Whirlwind Sage
by KapphahnS
Summary: None other than the Surgeon of Death stood before her, spattered with red and bloody sword in hand. "Trafalgar Law... Can I panic now?" "Always panic if I'm involved, Sage-ya."
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone, Sam here. I've been editing recently and this is the updated chapter as of July 10th, 2016. Please enjoy, and leave a review if you liked/hated it! Thanks!

Sage's thoughts roiled with a million curses to the Marine Vice Admiral that stood in the center of the Marine warship. The giant felled each and every one of her crew, all dear friends of hers. She spat out a sticky glob of congealed blood and pushed her rebellious wild hair out of her face before engaging in hand-to-sword combat with another Marine. Her simple t-shirt and jean shorts rubbed uncomfortably against her skin, abrasive against all the small cuts she had acquired, and her shirt was soaked in blood around a slash on her back. Before she threw herself at the Vice Admiral to join her crew, she heard a cannon blast, and the ship rocked dangerously, throwing her off the edge of the ship. She lost her focus as she hit the ocean's raging surface, and a moment after her vision blackened.

~~~X~~~

She woke lying face-down on the gravelly beach of a Summer Island in a puddle of red liquid, which trickled down the rocks and back into the sea, dying the foam crimson. It was just past dawn, the early morning light trickling through the clouds. Sea salt stung ferociously at a gaping slash on her back, stretching from her left shoulder to her right ribs, and other various, smaller cuts all over. She remembered the terrified faces of her crew as they were slain, and soon, a river of tears joined the blood.

_All I have to do is never wake up again..._

~~~X~~~

Her head pulsed with every heartbeat, painful enough that it made her chomp down on her tongue to keep from screaming. After what seemed an eternity, she finally dared to open her eyes to a metal ceiling and mundane gray walls. She had a nearly uncontrollable urge to scream and curl into a tight ball, but gritted her teeth and focused on trying to sleep.

But she let out an annoyed, pained groan when a strident alarm rang in the room and echoed from outside, bouncing painfully around her aching head. She slowly forced herself to sit up, glaring at the flashing red strobe on the wall that exuded the ringing. Hearing stomping feet run past the door of the large room she was in, she quickly looked around and saw six other empty beds against the walls, and cabinets bolted down to the floor. The IV line beside her told her it was a medical bay.

As the stomping passed and ceased, she swung her legs over the bed, ignoring her body's immense rebellion, and stood up, creeping to the door. She was barefoot with her hair pinned messily out of her face, but was wearing clean clothes, a navy blue tank top and gray sweatpants, and her wounds were clean and bandaged. She opened the door, peered around, and with nobody there, slipped out and down the steel-walled hall, towards a set of stairs. Climbing them silently, she saw an open door with sunlight streaming through, and immediately set towards it, hearing the sounds of battle just beyond.

She stepped out, taking the sight of dozens of Marines fighting men in either beige boilers suits or navy shirts and black pants. A battleship loomed over the submarine on the right. _Boiler suits. I know whose ship this is!_ Panic filled her, and she immediately knew her next objective was to try to sneak away on the Marine ship. She looked around, finding the spotty-hatted captain she knew commanded the submarine, wielding his huge katana to decapitate handfuls of Marines at a time.

"Whirlwind Sage!" Sage looked angrily to her right, taking in the sight of a Marine running at her with two swords raised. He swung them simultaneously at her neck, but she ducked, punched him in the armpit, and elbowed him in the throat as he doubled over. He coughed up a handful of blood and lay on the deck, gasping.

"Dumbass. I'm pretty pissed right now." She spat at him with rage, already feeling the effects of her earlier battle on her body. She looked around, challenging all with a low growl, and saw one of the crew's men being overwhelmed with a cluster of Marines who stabbed at him from a distance with bayonets. She stalked up behind two of them and slammed their skulls together. Then, taking advantage of the others' confusion, she bent low and swung her right leg into the backs of the knees of two more Marines, toppling them over. As they fell backwards, she brought her left heel down on the chest of one, shattering his ribs, then stepped over his body on the deck, and grabbed the chin of the second and twisted his head, breaking his neck with a satisfying _SNAP_! By then, the redheaded pirate had defeated the other four Marines, and gaped at her while she engaged with another Marine, kicking him between his legs and then stabbing him in the heart with his own bayonet. Then she turned to acknowledge him, her green eyes blazing with such fury the pirate quailed. He gave her a nod of thanks, which she returned, and she leapt away, hair streaming, and kneed a Marine in the back, then broke his neck. Although she didn't plan to stay on their ship, she wanted to at least thank the Heart Pirates for saving her life.

As she set her sights on the rope ladder falling from the side of the warship, her heart roared in her ears through the clarity that battle granted her. Every detail looked sharp; she could see the stubble on the face of the Marine in front of her, trace a notch in the blade of a bayonet. Sometime throughout her skirmishes she felt a lance of pain in her back, hot blood pouring down her skin, and she knew she had broken open the large cut that stretched from her left ribs to right shoulder.

Finally making it to the ladder, she started to scale it, kicking the Marines tailing her off of it into the ocean, but was surrounded by a blue bubble before she could reach the top. _Shit!_ She tried to jump out of it, but in a moment she was suddenly back in the medical bay, landing abruptly on the bed she previously occupied in the submarine, and none other than the Surgeon of Death stood before her, spattered with blood and dripping katana in hand.

"Trafalgar Law." She stated blandly, knowingly. She knew about him and all the up-and-coming rookies, but made sure to not let her fear show in her eyes.

"Miss Sage. Why do you insist on launching yourself into battle when you just got out of one? A better question, why were you trying to get onto the Marine ship?" He looked at her with his calm, calculating gray eyes, while she tilted her head up to meet his gaze with her own emerald green ones. She knew she was no match for him, with his Devil Fruit powers and her weakened state, but analyzed how she could try to get away if she had to. None of the windows opened, the only door out was the one she came in through. It would be difficult if it came to that.

"If you saved my life, it's only fair that I help you a little in return, but I had planned to sneak away on their battleship. I don't think that's gonna happen now, though." She rested her hands on the bed behind her, leaning back on her palms, but sat up straight again when she realized her arms were shaking violently from exhaustion.

"No, it won't." With his statement, he wiped his sword with a rag lying on a counter by the wall and sheathed it, pulling up a rolling office chair.

"Why? Do you plan on keeping me as a prisoner?" She watched while he gathered various items from cabinets around the room, laying them out on a metal table by her bed. He washed his hands, pulled on latex gloves and sat in front of her.

" Perhaps. Turn around and take off the shirt. I need to redo your stitches immediately since you broke them." Detecting his annoyance, she only looked at him blankly before obeying, sitting cross-legged on the bed with her back to him, then slipped off the now blood-splashed tank top she wore, covering her chest with the cloth. "I need to save as much anesthetic as I can; some of my crewmembers will need it. Will you be alright without it?" She looked over her shoulder at him and nodded. He hummed an affirmative as he cleaned her wound and began stitching.

"Why did you save me?"

A small silence followed her question. Then: "I have my reasons, Miss Sage." He paused to focus on his work for a moment.

"Can I panic now?" She joked joylessly.

He hummed again. "Always panic if I'm involved. My senior medic read in the paper that you had been killed yesterday, off the coast of the island we were at, and we left immediately because the Vice Admiral was still in the area. But he found you on the beach, almost dead. You should, actually, have been dead long before from blood loss."

She didn't comment on it, but instead asked, "Why am I worth so much effort to you?" Before he could answer, she heard footsteps approaching, and the door to the room burst open, a dozen men leading in their bleeding crewmates. She watched over her shoulder as a handful left, those who weren't injured, leaving their hurt crewmates with a group of men who tended their wounds. "Mister Josh!" Law called, and a tall, lean blond looked up from where he stood overseeing the wounded men. He wore a long-sleeved navy blue shirt with the Heart Pirate's smiley jolly roger on the chest, black cargo pants, and boots, his hair trimmed and styled nicely. He glanced at Sage only once before addressing his Captain's call.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Let me do the reports. I want to know what happened. Here, finish her stitches."

"Of course." Law set his tools on the table, peeled off his gloves, stood, and took the clipboard from Josh, and the blonde took his place in the chair, put on a pair of clean gloves, and picked up the tools. "How much anesthetic did he give you?" He asked. She turned to look at him, meeting his dark green eyes with hers. His eyes were almost black, unlike hers, which were a bright, grass green with a jagged ring of gold in each.

"None."

"What? We have plenty. Do you want some?"

_What?_ She paused for a moment. Then: "I'm fine. Just get it over with, please." _Trafalgar was testing me,_ she realized.

"Okay." As he threaded the needle through her punctured skin, she asked,

"Are you the senior medic?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for finding me."

"Sure. I have a question, though."

"Shoot."

"Why were you fighting just now? I saw you up there, and you really shouldn't be moving much, although you're quite good at taking people down." She heard the smile in his voice.

"Thanks. I guess I just thought since you guys helped me and since I hate Marines right now, it's a win-win?"

"Not for your body. It's not like you should have died yesterday or anything."

"Well, at the moment I don't really care about much. All I cared about died yesterday like I should have."

"There, I'm finished." He plastered a sheet of thin, pliable plastic to her skin, and she slipped the tank top back on. "Do you want a shower? I can kick all the guys out for a while." He asked.

"Actually, yeah. If it's not too much trouble." He cleaned up the tools and returned them, then led her out, passing the men being patched up, all of whom followed her with their eyes, intently curious. She only dipped her head slightly to acknowledge them, and they each returned it, watching her leave.

Josh led her down the hall, and before the stairs was a door he asked her to wait outside while he went in to check for anyone there. He came out a few moments later. "There's no one in there right now, so you can go in. I'll tell everyone not to come in. Oh, and I'll bring you new clothes. I'll leave them outside the door."

"Thanks." She slipped in, and saw a line of stalls along one side of the wall, and shower stalls on the opposite side. She grabbed a towel from a standing cabinet beside the door and went to the farthest one in, pulling the opaque plastic curtain closed. Alone now, her thoughts turned to her two brothers, whom she had not seen in awhile. _They shouldn't know I'm supposed to be dead yet; they never read the papers, but what do I do now?_


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone, Sam here again. This chapter's a little shorter, been updated as of July 10, 2016. Please leave a review if you enjoyed, thanks for reading!

~~~2~~~

"That girl's in the showers?" Two hatted crewmembers asked excitedly in unison. One with red shoulder-length hair wore a blue hat, and the other sported a cap printed with PENGUIN on it. They both looked at each other and began sprinting out the door, only to be stopped by running face-first into Josh's open hands, which blocked the door out of the barracks. They both comically fell to the floor in a heap.

"Yeah, no." Josh stood over them unsympathetically.

"Why?" The redhead whined.

"Well, Shachi, she has a bounty of 95 million beli. And you saw how she fights. You want that on you?" Shachi's face fell as he thought about it.

The PENGUIN hatted man asked, "She's a pirate? That's a pretty decent bounty."

Josh sighed in exasperation. "No shit, sherlock. Read the paper sometime, Penguin."

"That's what you're here for, Josh…"

"I'm here to patch you up when your dumbassery gets you hurt, not educate you about famous pirates you should know about."

"Ah, you're mean, Josh." Penguin complained childishly.

"Only to stupid people."

~~~X~~~

Standing under the pouring water from the showerhead, Sage let her head sink low, chin to her chest, closing her eyes instead of watching the soap and blood run out of her long brown hair. She moved slowly, carefully, and got out and dried herself, quickly grabbing the clothes that sat in a neat, folded pile on the floor just past the door to the bathrooms. She was cautious of her wounds while she pulled on the clothes.

She stared at her reflection in one of the rectangular mirrors above the six sinks, wondering why only she, out of the seventeen in her crew, had survived. Just the thought of her crew made her want to cry, but she kept her emotions under control, instead choosing to feel numb as she searched her face, her gaze resting on the smattering of freckles on her cheeks, the single characteristic she shared with her only blood sibling.

_I can't die. I made a promise. _She shook her head quickly, brushed her fingers through her curly brown-blonde hair and stepped quietly out of the bathroom after hanging up the towel. She heard voices from a half-open door across from the infirmary, and silently went up to it. Curious, she slowly opened it fully and looked in.

Josh was sitting on the lower bed of the closest bunk to the door, and looked up at her entry. A handful more men were scattered throughout the large room, which contained at least ten double bunk beds, and two jumped up and came over to her. She recognized one as the man she had helped with the Marines, the one with red hair and a blue hat. The other guy wore a hat with PENGUIN displayed on the front and stood at the same height. "Here, sit down. You should rest." Josh offered, and she took it, lowering herself slowly to sit beside him. "These are Shachi and Penguin," he introduced, indicating the redhead and PENGUIN hatted man respectively. She nodded at them. "If you're up for it, I need to ask you some questions for your patient report. Are you okay with that?"

"Sure." She lied. All she wanted to do was sleep forever. Josh gave her a grateful smile and got up, exiting the room to fetch the report, and Shachi and Penguin sat on the floor in front of the bed, against the wall beside the door.

"So you're a famous pirate, huh?" Shachi asked. "Explains how you kicked a whole lot of ass out there."

She gave him a weak smile. "Depends what you consider famous. I'm not a Supernova yet, that's for sure, unlike your captain."

Josh came back in, sitting beside her again, on her left. "Current injuries...I got that. Eh, okay. Previous broken bones or serious head trauma?"

"Broke my right arm, the radius, when I was twelve. Oh, and I hit my head on the deck before I fell into the water on the Marine ship, before you picked me up." He nodded, and there was a slight pause as he recorded her answer.

"Devil Fruit?"

"No."

"Current-" He fell silent before he finished, and his pen skipped the question on the paper. "Any allergies?" He met her eyes.

She scrutinized his gaze, suspicious so as to why he skipped the question. "No allergies." He wrote it down, and she peered over his hand at the question he skipped, and read: **Current Mental State?** "Josh, please, just give me the paper for a minute." She held her hand out for the clipboard in his hand, sending him a pleading look. He hesitated for a moment, then surrendered it and the pen. She took it and put down her answer, then returned it.

Josh watched her, brows knitted in interest, as she wrote on the paper and gave it back. He read her scrawled writing.

**Suffered loss of family. Close to mental breakdown.**


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone, Sam again. Updated chapter July 10,2016. Enjoy! Please leave a review if you have any feedback for me. Thanks!

~~~3~~~

His frown relaxed in empathy as he read her answer, understanding. "Come on, let's get you back to the infirmary; you need sleep." He spoke to Sage.

"I agree." She stood up and stepped out, Josh behind her. She followed the blonde back the infirmary, and sat on the bed she slept on.

"Are you feeling weak or fatigued?" He asked. She sent him a "duh" look.

"Well, yeah."

"Good. About 60 percent of the blood in you isn't yours, so your body is still adjusting to it and making its own, so you need to rest a whole lot. I'm estimating at least two weeks of no physical activity, but I have a feeling that's not going to happen..."

"I lost that much blood? Whose do I have?"

"Almost half the crew donated some blood for you."

"Why am I worth that much effort to your captain?" Josh didn't answer, only observing her with his calm green eyes. At his silence, Sage searched his face for an explanation, but his visage revealed nothing. She decided to let it go for then, and he left her to sleep.

The Marine battleship and her crew, everything shaded red in a thick haze of blood, its metallic stench stifling her breaths until it felt like she was choking. Then she saw it was her crew strangling her, each of them with a hand gripping her neck angrily in revenge for their deaths. And just as her vision became spotted with black and blue-

Her eyes snapped open, pulling her abruptly out of her violent dreams and back into the nightmare of reality. The steel walls of the room she laid in were slurred into a monochrome gray in her eyes through a film of tears, but she heard the door open, and quickly wiped her eyes dry, sleep long gone.

She sat up, sitting cross-legged under the blankets of the bed expectantly, watching Trafalgar walk in. "I need to run some tests on your blood to make sure your body's handling it well, since you haven't eaten in a day. I'll draw the blood and then you can have some food."

"Now that you remind me, I'm starving." He went around the room, collecting his needed tools while Sage watched him. "I guess nobody was severely hurt yesterday, then. That's good." She commented, noticing the lack of other patients in the room.

"We're just good at our jobs." He took her right arm, bound it, cleaned the spot in the crook of her elbow, and drew her blood.

"That too, I guess." The room fell silent as he finished, and cleaned up his tools. "Food time?" He nodded, standing, and she swept the covers off her legs and quickly stood up, heading towards the door. When she took her first step, she lurched forward with the change of balance from lying down. She threw her arms forward and braced for impact, expecting a jolt in her back, but instead she felt a strong arm quickly snake around her waist to catch her. Surprised, she slackened and faltered, looking down at his lean, tattooed forearm and slim fingers. He has nice hands, she thought, before realizing what exactly she thought, mentally facepalming, and shaking it off. She pulled her legs underneath her and stood up, looking to the door. Law slid his arm back.

"Eager much, Miss Sage?" He smirked at her. She pursed her lips.

"Agh, be quiet." She muttered.

~~~X~~~

Maintaining his smirk, Law led her out the door and down the hall to a set of stairs leading down. At the bottom of the stairs, he opened the door labelled GALLEY and ushered her in. She saw Shachi and Penguin sitting at the table closest to the door and sat down next to them.

"I'll get Greyson for your food." Penguin offered.

"Thanks." She saw Law take a seat with a cup of steaming coffee at the smaller table in the corner, away from the rest of the three long tables in the galley. Josh came out of the double swinging doors with a mug and a newspaper tucked under his arm, and sat at the table she was at, greeting her. "Hey, is that today's paper?"

"No, it's yesterday's. I didn't get to finish reading it." He set down his mug, which was full of hot tea.

"Can I see it?"

"You really want to?"

"Yeah." He handed the folded paper to her, and she saw a black-and-white picture on the third page, which was folded so it showed on the top. Looking closer at it, she saw that it was a picture of the deck of the Marine battleship, and she could pick out each of her crewmembers as they lay on the deck, dead, or still stood, covered in wounds. The headline read: Rookie Whirlwind Sage Eliminated! Beside the article was a photo of her wanted poster, in which she glared fiercely at the camera with blood running down her face, her mouth twisted into a snarl, and her hair whipping in a halo about her face. The poster was crossed out in red, the "95,000,000" blaring from below the thick red lines. She didn't bother reading the article, and turned the page to see a list of wanted pirates. Scanning through the grids of pictures, her gaze resting on the smiling, childish face of Monkey D. Luffy with a bounty of 100 million beli and his crew. What did he do now? Then she passed over his poster and continued, stopping again on the freckled face of Portgas D. Ace, silently admiring his bounty.

Penguin set a plate of food down in front of her, and she started on it after thanking him, realizing she was hungry after she began eating. Mid-bite, she stopped in her tracks, then hurriedly finished the food and poked Josh, who had finished his mug of tea. "Josh, do you have a Den Den Mushi I could use to call someone? I really need it."

"Yeah. Let me grab it real quick. I'll be back." He left his mug and newspaper on the table and left the galley. She took her plate, utensils, and his mug into the kitchen, behind the double swinging doors on the far side of the room, finding a hulking man standing in the kitchen, throwing ingredients into a huge pot. He looked up at her entrance, raising an eyebrow.

"You the pirate who's supposed to be dead?"

"Uh, yeah." She went to the sink beside him and rinsed off her plate and the mug, tossing the tea bag in the trash. "I'm Sage. You?"

"Name's Greyson. Cook."

"Thanks for the food, it's good." He grunted in reply and motioned to a dishwasher, and she deposited the dishes into it and closed it. She prepared a cup of coffee with Grayson's directions, then left, returning to the galley. Josh had come back holding a small Den Den Mushi in his hand, questioning Penguin and Shachi. "Ah, thanks a lot. May I?" He set the snail on the table, and she sat back down and dialled a number in. "I put your mug away, by the way." Law sat down across from her, and she spared him a fleeting glance.

"Thanks." He slid into the bench across from her, watching her intently as she waited for the person on the other side to pick up as the snail rang.

Finally, a click resonated from the Mushi, and a gruff, yet curious-sounding voice came over: "Hello?"

"Hey, is the flame-brain in?" Sage answered.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone, thanks for stickin' around and reading! Hope you enjoy. Updated July10,2016.

~~~4~~~

When Sage stood up too fast, Law knew she was going to lose her balance. After lying down for so long, it was only expected. And he saw she was going to catch herself, but he decided to humor himself by slipping his arm around her waist, noting the fine curve there. But he was a bit unprepared for her to seemingly notice something about his arm and hand, and then blink it away, like the thought was inappropriate or absurd. Thinking back on it, it was quite amusing.

"Eager much, Miss Sage?" The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk.

"Agh, be quiet."

What he was even more unprepared for was her pout and blush. He allowed his smirk to become wider, and he led her out into the hallway, wondering intrigued at the character he had on his hands now.

When he came out of the kitchen with his coffee, he saw her run her hand through her hair and really saw it for the first time. He decided that she had quite pretty hair, a medium brown that gradually became blonde at the layered ends, between curly and straight, not too much of either. He saw that Shachi and Penguin were trying to flirt with her, which didn't surprise him. They saw women only when they landed, as there were none on board. At first it didn't bother him, but when she indicated a bit of annoyance at them, he resolved to tell the pair to lay off for a while, since she was still recovering and needed to rest.

He decided that after she was done meeting people in the galley, he would take her to her new room, across from the guys' quarters. He had told someone to clean up that old storage room and put a cot and other room necessities in it.

He saw her return from the kitchen, passing him by with a cup of coffee, and seat herself again at the table. Josh set a Den Den Mushi on the table before her, and he got up to see who she would call, sitting across from her.

"Who are you calling?" He asked, peering calmly at her with his fingers interlocked before his face.

"A famous pirate." She finished dialling and waited as the Mushi rang.

"Name?"

"Who are you, my mother?" She muttered. He hummed, interested, but kept silent as the receiver was picked up.

"Hello?" the voice on the other side asked.

"Sorry, is the flame-brain in?"

"Shouldn't you be dead?" The other asked. "Nobody's told him yet, since he just got back from a raid this morning."

"Good. I don't want him to worry."

"Okay, I'll get him. Ace! Get your ass over here!...And put your pants back on…" Sage laughed.

"Sorry, Marco. Thanks for putting up with him."

"No prob- Sage! What's up?"

Sage smiled. "Hey, Ace. How are you?"

"Great, just got back from raiding some dumbasses who were threatening Pop's island. You?"

"Well, if you had read the paper, you would know that I should be dead, but I'm alive. And okay, I think."

"Are you really? How's everyone?"

"Quite dead, actually. I'm the only one left."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I liked them a lot."

"I know."

"What happened?"

"Kat and Saye got captured, and I took the crew to get them back, but I didn't know that Vice Admiral John Giant was on board, and they all died. I have a big scar on my back."

"Are you okay? I'm know you are physically, like you always are, but are _you_ okay?"

"Not at all. But, Ace, I think I need to go now."

"Where are you? You could join us, if you want. Pops would be happy to have you."

"I don't know, Ace. But I'm on Trafalgar Law's ship, now. He's a doctor."

"Oh. Well, do you still have my Vivre Card? You can always come join us if you want. I'll come pick you up if you decide to."

"Yeah, I got it, but I don't know. I gotta go. Bye."

"Is Mr. Trafalgar there now?"

"Yeah, talk."

"Thank you very much for taking care of my sister. She's a handful, but I hope she won't be too much of a problem." Law's eyebrows rose at his unexpected words.

"No need to thank me, I did it in my own interest."

"Okay, Ace, I'm gonna go. Bye."

"Love you, Monk."

"Love you too, Freckle-face." She hung up, and settled herself, looking at Law, who was listening intently. Josh stood at the end of the table, looking shocked.

"What connection do you have with Fire Fist Ace?" Law questioned, brows lowered suspiciously.

Sage leaned back, sitting up straight. "He's my brother."


	5. Chapter 5

Hey everyone, Sam here. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy this chapter! Updated July 10/2016

~~~5~~~

Silence fell in the galley as the sentence sank in, and Law hummed intently. "How come no one knows this?"

"Well, we're actually not supposed to be known as siblings...Our parents were quite infamous, and I ask that you don't ask me who they are." Law considered it, his gray eyes contemplating her request.

"Fine." Law remained still, examining her with blank eyes. "This is an intriguing piece of information. How old is Fire Fist compared to you?"

"Twelve seconds older. We're twins." She took a swig of her coffee. Only one gulp was left.

"So tell me how you grew up and no one knows this."

"Well, let's just start with how I grew up. Get comfy, 'kay?" She sat up and leaned her chin in her palm with her elbow rested on the table, then launched into a recount of her childhood, taking several minutes to explain it, and finished with a final gulp of coffee. The whole crew sat listening intently around them. "Are you satisfied now?"

Law hummed. "For now, Sage-ya." He stood up, tucking the clipboard under his arm. "Follow me. I'll take you to your new room."

"I get my own room?" She was actually surprised.

"Would you rather sleep in their bunks?" Law smirked and gestured at his crew.

"Not really, no." Law began walking, leading her out the galley, down the hall, and up the stairs again.

"How many floors are on this sub?" Sage asked.

"Three. Top floor has the bunks and bathrooms, my quarters, and the infirmary. the next floor down has the galley, kitchen, and storage for food and other things, laundry. The bottom floor, near the hull, has machinery and the navigation room that's connected to the Crow's Nest of sorts above the first floor." He opened a door and stepped in, disappearing into the room. Sage stuck her head in, realizing it was his room, confused.

"So we're sharing? I'll take the floor." She offered jokingly, walking fully in. Law smirked.

"I didn't think you'd accept the idea so quickly… But no, you're not staying here." He went to the corner of the room, walking around the bed, neatly made with black sheets and pillowcases and a yellow blanket with the same spotty pattern as on his hat and jeans.

"I've learned to accept really weird things, it being the Grand Line." The shelves of books caught her eye, and she went to them, her gaze skimming the titles.

"You do want your boots back, correct?"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks." She replaced the book on the shelf, sat down on the bed beside him, and began putting her boots on, tucking the pants into them. Her hair tumbled over her shoulder, so long that it tickled her fingers while they worked at lacing the boots. She brushed it back. "Are these all the books you own?"

"No, all my medically advanced textbooks are stored on the bottom floor. These are just the others I have."

"Can I borrow some of these?" Sage asked excitedly, grinning. She sprang up, looking over the titles once more.

"You don't strike me as a reader, Sage-ya."

"What's that supposed to mean? I _love _books!" She whirled around to face him, putting her hands on her hips defiantly. "I'm sure you do too, with this collection." There was almost everything on those shelves, from biographies to novels to historical works. Ignoring her, Law stood and walked out. She followed, giving the shelves one last goodbye glance.

"So I guess that means no?" She paused when Law stopped in front of a door a few paces away from his room, opening it.

"Not necessarily. Perhaps later, when you're settled in. This is your room. The bathroom's down the hall, the second door." He handed her a key. "This is yours. Lock it at night."

Sage raised a brow. "What if I don't want to stay on this ship?" She wasn't sure herself what she would do, but she asked anyways.

"Oh, but you will. You owe me, might I remind you." His mouth flattened into a thin line, and a spark of cold fear bloomed in her stomach.

"Is this in "your own interest"?"

"Of course."


	6. Chapter 6

~~~6~~~

Three days later, she lay in the infirmary on a bed on her stomach, next to Law. She shivered with cold, since she was shirtless. It took Law thirty long minutes to remove all her stitches, which they spent in near silence. She was acutely aware of his presence, listening to the steady rise and fall of his breathing as he labored carefully, cutting the threads in her skin. She tensed.

"Relax, Sage-ya. It's harder for me if you don't."

"Tall order. I don't like people touching me. And it's cold in here." As if to prove a point, her body chose that moment to shiver again. Just then, accidentally, Law's fingers brushed her skin on her side, causing Sage to let out a small, high-pitched squeak.

Law hummed, as though he found something intriguing. "Might you be ticklish? Is that why you don't like people touching you?" She found nothing to say, fearful. He tested his theory, lightly passing his fingers over her skin on the same place, inciting a short-lived squeal.

"Oh, that was _not _an accident! Stop, or I'll slap you!" She looked over her shoulder, glaring scared at him. He found it so amusing, he couldn't restrain a low chuckle.

"I don't take orders, Miss Sage. Be careful where you tread." He continued to work on removing her stitches.

"Same for you, sadistic bastard." She muttered under her breath.

"What was that, Sage-ya?"

"Nothing! Hurry up!"

~~~X~~~

After her stitches had been removed, Josh had come in to clean up while Law left to do paperwork. She sat on the table she had been lying on, watching him circle the room, organizing tools and restocking the cabinets.

"How long have you been here?" She asked him, deciding to learn a little more about the crew.

"Two years."

"Where's home for you?"

"At the moment, here. But I was born in the North Blue and joined Captain when he got me out of a bad situation that I stupidly put myself in."

"Did that bad situation give you that scar on your back?" He was genuinely surprised at her noticing, and finished his work and sat down in front of her.

"How…?"

"Your left arm can reach and move around more than your right, and I can see it through your shirt if I look closely." She looked at him with her question in her eyes. "What happened?" She asked gently.

He shifted on the chair he sat backwards on, leaning his forearms on the back of the chair. "Well, five years before I joined this crew, when I was fifteen and on a trip with some friends, I was really drunk and made fun of a passing Celestial Dragon. He, of course, got extremely angry and ordered me captured, and next thing I know, I'm alone without my friends and quite sober now, in a cell."

"You were a slave?" He nodded, looking her in the eye.

"So the scar is the brand of the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon?"

"Not just one." Her eyes widened with surprise, and she sat up to stare at him as he wordlessly swiveled around on the chair and pulled off his shirt. She openly gaped as she saw his skin was mottled with dark red, twisted skeins of scar tissue, and then realized the scars were arranged in a pattern that started with a small brand at the left side of the small of his back. The burns marched up his torso in increasing size, then over his shoulder and down and around his right arm, ending on his upper forearm. The largest burn in the center of his back, between his shoulder blades, was covered by a brand of a flaming sun.

Sage could only imagine the amount of strength it must have required to live as a slave for five years, and to continue living branded like this. When he pulled his shirt back on and turned around, she only sent him a sympathetic look, trying to convey all the respect she felt.

~~~X~~~

The next three days passed fairly quickly. She met various members of the crew, who sometimes came to hang out with her when she was bored. She helped with a variety of jobs, like helping in the kitchen or in the navigation rooms, or taking watches. Josh appointed himself her "guide" on the sub, becoming her closest friend there. Shachi and Penguin continued to flirt with her, which she ignored. When they landed on the next island, Law sent her with Josh to get new clothes in the town on the Summer Island. Shachi and Penguin somehow ended up tagging along.

"I'm going to need winter clothes eventually, right?" Sage asked Josh, who shrugged. "We have jackets on the sub."

"Hmm. Do I really need to stick to your uniform? I mean, there's really nothing on the ship made for women, and I hate to keep swiping your clothes."

"I don't know. I don't think so." He followed her while she slowly pawed through racks of clothes in an average clothing store. After fifteen minutes of skimming, she had in her arms two pairs of black leggings, a fitted white lace tank top, a tight black spaghetti-strap tank, a bright yellow crop top, and a pair of jean shorts. She went to try them on while Shachi, Penguin, and Josh waited outside the changing room. Luckily, all of them fit, and she stepped out of the dressing room in the yellow top and shorts. _It's so hot on this island…_She was very aware that it revealed six inches of her stomach above the shorts, but it was how half the women on this island dressed, so might as well blend in. Shachi and Penguin, seeing her, started to either drool or get nosebleeds, and Josh tossed her a pack of 5 pairs of socks, though he had acquired a small blush as well. "Thanks, Josh." She went to the counter and paid for the clothes, walking out with the bags in her hands.

Shachi complained, "I'm tired. Shopping sucks."


	7. Chapter 7

~~~7~~~

During the day, it was hot on that island, but when the sun dropped, so did the temperatures. To accommodate for the cold, Sage changed into a pair of leggings, comfy and warm, and slipped the spaghetti strap tank under the crop top. She found Josh in the galley.

"Come on, it's time to go. Do you drink much?" He handed her a white down jacket with the crew's jolly roger on it and led her up to the deck, where most of the crew was getting ready to leave.

" I'm not a lightweight, so I can drink quite a bit, but I just chose not to. I prefer coffee."

"Few people like you are on this ship. Most of us will be utter idiots by midnight. And they're all happy, stupid drunks." He chuckled.

"But don't we have to leave tomorrow? We're gonna have to be aware enough to steer the sub."

"Jeremy is _definitely_ not a lightweight. He'll drink, but he won't get drunk. Same for Brandon." He assured her, referring to the two navigators who were also helmsmen. They arrived in town, and Penguin almost immediately found the tavern, cheering when he did. The crew distributed themselves around the booths in the tavern, while Sage took a seat at the bar, ordering a soda.

"Yo, Blondie, you got any knives on you?" She asked Josh, who was ordering a variety of drinks. He sent her a WTF look at the nickname, but replied.

"No. But I know Captain carries some scalpels on him all the time."

"Thanks. I'm just messing with you when I call you Blondie, ya know." She grinned, ruffling his hair.

"I know, O wise one." He retorted, fixing his hair and referencing Sage's name, as a sage is a wise person. She strode towards Law, who sat nursing a bottle of rum in a booth with Penguin and Shachi, Judah, Jaxon, and now Josh.

"Hey, Law, can I get a couple scalpels? Josh told me you have some."

He raised a brow. "Why would you need scalpels, Sage-ya?" He took a drink.

"There are idiots in bars. Specifically, angry drunks. Some people I can't overpower, so I'd like a weapon." She had to raise her voice to be heard over the rowdy drinkers in the bar. He contemplated for a moment, then slipped a hand into his hoodie pocket and handed her a pair of scalpels, covered with hard plastic sheaths. Each was, at most, five inches long, the blade only two inches.

"Be aware that those are meant to cut flesh like butter, Sage-ya. Don't lean it on any part of you if you value your limbs." He finished with a sinister smirk, which she returned with a feral grin.

"Thanks, _Captain_. I won't forget." She, with utter confidence, slank back to the bar, enjoying her soda in peace while watching the crew drink noisily. She tossed the scalpels up, catching them repeatedly to test their weight and feel. Turning away from the crowd, she slid the two scalpels under her clothes, one on her left hip underneath the waistband of her leggings, and one between her breasts, underneath the linen bandages she wrapped her chest in. Both were at easy access to either of her hands, and the sheaths could be flicked off with a thumb. Satisfied, she turned back to the crowd, her soda in hand. _It's about time, really,_ she thought when a half-drunken man walked up and sat beside her.

"Hey, why is a pretty woman like you alone here?" He asked, hiccupping.

"Don't worry, I'm not alone at all. Not anymore, anyways." She purred. _Time to mess up some brains tonight!_

"Are-" He began, then choked on his words as he saw something behind her, froze, and stood up. "Excuse me, I have to go." Sage felt a murderous intent behind her. He stumbled away, but not before Sage clutched his arm, pulling him back.

"At least tell me your name?" She asked charmingly, smiling..

"Mine's Derek. Yours, pretty lady?" He sent her a drunken grin, his eyes roaming. Sage inwardly snickered, amused at the fact that he didn't know that where he looked concealed weapons.

"Sage. Nice meeting you, Derek." Then he looked behind her again, and muttered a goodbye like a frightened puppy and left.

Turning, she saw Law sitting in his booth, smirking like a demon. Grinning back with victory, she held up Derek's wallet between her index and middle finger, silently boasting of her success. Law looked pleased. She slipped the wallet into a pocket on the inside of her jacket, then went to the booth he sat at. Penguin looked up from his drink, moving over so she could have a seat.

"Sage-chan, have a drinking contest with me! Shachi's competing too!"

"You sure about that? I can hold my liquor. Law, Josh, wanna join?" Law shook his head, but Josh accepted, eyes sparkling with the newfound challenge.

"Yeah!" Shachi cheered. Rolling her eyes, she slid into the booth beside Penguin. They ordered a round of beers for all four. Sage finished off her soda, then downed the glass set before her quickly, grimacing a little at the slight burning in her throat.

Each of them went through eight beers before Penguin slammed his head down on the table, finished. He groaned and hiccupped. Laughing, Sage, Shachi, and Josh had the next round. At the eleventh, Shachi slouched, admitting defeat. Josh glanced at Sage, a challenge in his eyes.

"I'm still good for poker, honestly. I'm good." Sage chuckled, still quite sober. Her head was buzzing, but she was aware and conscious.

"Good job getting that poor man's wallet. He's not gonna notice until we're gone!" So Josh was pretty drunk, but they both downed another round, and another. "Agh! I can't do it! I'm done. You win!" He slid back, chugging water after finishing his thirteenth round to clean up his system. Sage cheered happily.

Then she remembered the nice leather wallet tucked against her boobs in the jacket, and pulled it out and counted the money. She handed Law the equivalent of what she spent in town on clothes. "What a dumbass, carrying this much money and getting drunk."

"What's this for?" He raised a brow at her, intrigued.

"My clothes. I don't like debts."

"There are none, Sage-ya. You're a part of this crew, and your expenses are mine to cover. Keep your money; you earned it." Sage chuckled at his word use, and he handed the money back.

"Thanks. I appreciate it, but I still feel like I owe you something. What's your favorite drink?" She set her head in her hands, elbows on the table.

"Rum."

"Yo, Mister, gimme rum and a soda please!" She called to the bartender politely.

"Coming right up!" He replied, setting down the glass he was polishing and preparing their drinks.

"Do you filch wallets off of innocent people much?" Law asked, leaning back in the booth and throwing his arms on the back nonchalantly.

"Only if they're drunk, dumbasses, or rude. I have this little test I do; I trip and fall right into someone, and if they help me up, I spare their wallet. If they sneer and shove me off them, I swipe their wallet. If I steal from a nice person, I feel like a heel, so I'd like to know the character of whom I'm stealing from first." A provocatively dressed woman with short blonde hair brought their drinks, winking at Law as she turned away, hips swaying.

Law hummed, smirking, and popped open his drink, while Sage gave a sound of derision. "Did she bother you, Sage-ya?" He took a gulp of rum, studying her. Sage only pursed her lips in a small frown.


	8. Chapter 8

~~~8~~~

"Ahh~We're finally here!" Sage stood on the shimmering sand on the island they landed on the next day, stretching her arms above her head.

"We've only been sailing for one day, Sage-chan." Shachi jumped down next to her.

Law walked up behind them, Kikoku resting on his shoulder. The crew gathered around him as he issued orders. "Two of the medics, go together to restock our medical supplies, then come straight back to put them away. Mechanics, see if we need to stock up on spare parts and get them if you can. Kitchen staff, get what you need and come back to the sub. Navigation team, find out how long until the Log Pose sets, and get miscellaneous stuff. Jeremy-ya, here's a list of things we need. The other three remaining medics will split up into each other group for support if anything happens. Sage-ya, you go with the kitchen staff. Bepo, come with me. I'm going to get the news." He started walking into town, the adorable orange-clad bear following him closely.

Sage looked around, searching for the muscly form of Greyson or Ray. Eventually, Ray was the one who pulled her aside, bringing her to where Greyson stood hulking beside the two others who worked in the kitchen, Jack and Aatami.

Jack was tall and well-built, with a handsome face, 5-o'clock shadow (in the morning?), and dark blue eyes, appearing to be in his early twenties. Aatami was her height, thin and agile, with long, braided jet-black hair and brown eyes, looking older than Jack, maybe in his early thirties. He wore the boiler suit and black boots, while Jack had navy blue pants, boots, and a white tank top with the jolly roger in black on the left breast.

Judah strode up, a small red bag strapped to his outer thigh over his black pants, and a grey backpack slung over his shoulder. He was a young, novice medic, relatively new to the crew as well, and had a childish face and curly brown hair. "Can I go with you guys?" He asked. Greyson nodded, huffing, then he turned away. They headed towards the town up the hill, past the beach, with the rest of the crew. When they reached it, the groups split up, each going different directions.

They asked for directions to the marketplace from some kind townspeople, who sent them to the west outskirts of town to a large, open air market with dozens of vendors. Sage noted it smelled fresh there, and as they perused each vendor, Sage found that she held two small bags of flour in her left arm, cradled against her body, and a larger bag of powdered milk in the other. While the others haggled with a gangly youth who ran a small stall, Sage stood off to the side, absentmindedly humming a tune only she could hear. She readjusted the bags in her arms, and Jack turned to her, politely asking if she needed help carrying them, since she was newly healed. She had just opened her mouth to say no, thanks, but then she felt a sharp, small stab in her right shoulder, and her vision went blurry. Her legs buckled beneath her, her arms dropped to her side, and the ground rushed up to her, but instead of hitting the ground, Jack caught her with strong arms, gently setting her on the ground on her left side, and yelled for Judah. He had barely reached her side while she fought back unconsciousness, but finally her heavy eyes closed and everything went black.

Her left eye cracked open when she half-woke to a gentle rocking feeling, and she realized she was in someone's arms, being carried while they walked. She saw Jack a few meters past the strong arm that held up her legs, speaking urgently into a Baby Den Den Mushi. She shifted, looking up at the person who carried her. Josh's dark green eyes met hers, and he gently chided her to go back to sleep.

"It's okay, you're safe. We've got you." She let her head fall back.

"What got my shoulder? Is that why I blacked out?" She asked. She was quite aware of their close proximity, with her curled up with her head near his shoulder.

"Yeah, someone tranquilized you. Go back to sleep, I've got you." She sighed, curling her head into her chest, taking his advice and falling asleep again.

~~~X~~~

Josh had been restocking the medical supplies in the middle of town with Liam, another medic, when his Baby Den Den Mushi rang in his backpack. When he picked it up, Ray spoke, sounding slightly panicked, explaining to him that Sage had been shot with something in the shoulder and passed out. He asked where they were and if they could help; they were at the marketplace at the west side of town. Josh listened with increasing concern, telling him that he would be there quickly and to get out of sight, but don't move very far. Through the Mushi, he could hear Judah speaking to Jack, who replied in a rushed voice, but he couldn't understand what they said.

He hung up and turned to Liam, who stood beside him listening intently, who nodded and began running swiftly west, weaving out of the building area with Josh at his heels as he stowed away the Mushi. After running for a few minutes, he emerged in the marketplace, soon spotting the group of five in a narrow alleyway between two tall buildings. He skidded to a stop before them, and saw Sage leaned on the wall. Judah knelt next to her, plastering a bandage on a small circular puncture in her skin on her right shoulder. "Ah, Josh! Good, you're here. I'm not sure what to do now, but I think we should get her to the sub." Josh glanced at him briefly, remembering Judah was only a novice medic, and knelt in front of Sage. He pressed his lips to her forehead, checking her temperature, and quickly pulled his white jacket out of his gray backpack, wrapping it over her chest and around her shoulders. Then he stooped down and picked her up gently and slowly with no sudden movements. Turning to the group who was circled around, he issued orders and explained what he was doing.

"Greyson, Ray, and Aatami, you guys can probably get the stuff you bought and other things you need and get back on your own. Judah, please take Liam and go ahead to prep the infirmary for blood tests and IVs. Jack, stay with me and call Captain. Let's go."

He started walking swiftly but smoothly through the thin forest outside the town and south towards the sub, Sage curled in his arms. She was strong and broad-shouldered, and surprisingly light to him. Jack pulled out his Mushi and rang Law, moving a bit away from Josh in the process. While he was talking to their captain, Sage stirred and looked up at him with sleepy green eyes. The ring of gold in them never ceased to entrance him; the strength and depth of her gaze was usually enough to capture his attention. "It's okay, you're safe. We've got you," he told her gently. She noticeably relaxed, letting her head fall back.

"What got my shoulder? Is that why I blacked out?" She asked softly.

"Yeah, someone tranquilized you. Go back to sleep, I've got you." Sighing, she tucked her head into his chest and quickly went back to sleep.

She must be quite strong if she woke up that early after getting hit with a tranquilizer. But then again, he always knew that she was strong; that's how she survived what she had been through. He looked down at her sleeping face once more, noting her hair that tumbled over his arm and swayed as he walked.

"What happened exactly just now, Jack?" He asked.

"She was holding some stuff, and I offered to help her carry them. I think she was gonna tell me no when she twitched forward, I saw the dart in her shoulder, and she dropped the bags. I caught her before she hit the ground, and I called for Judah. Then Ray called you."

"Did you see who or what shot the dart?" Jack shook his head. "Where is it now?"

"Judah has it. Here we are. Let's get her in." They had arrived at the sub, and they took her into the infirmary.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey, sorry this chapter is really short. My bad. Enjoy!

~~~9~~~

When Sage woke, she stared at the ceiling for a few moments before realizing where she was. She looked around to see Josh sitting beside her, his head lying on his crossed arms on her bed, asleep and snoring softly. She looked out the window and noted from the lack of light that it was evening.

She looked at Josh for a moment more, then petted his head. He stirred, blinking sleepily. "Hey." She said.

"Hey. You feeling okay?" He sat up.

"Yeah. I'm good now. Thanks for staying. It's creepy in here at night. You should go to bed if you're tired." He yawned.

"Mm'kay. What about you?"

"I'm gonna go to the kitchen and get some food. I'm hungry."

"I can go with you, if you want."

"No, you go sleep. Get some rest." He nodded and left.

In the kitchen, she grabbed an apple from a basket on the counter and stood there eating it. She hadn't seen anyone, and the dishes were washed and standing neatly on their drying racks. _It must be really late, then, if dinner's come and gone already, _she thought, then returned to her own room.

She was getting ready for bed when a soft knock came from the door. "Come on in," she called. She was kinda surprised when Judah walked in with an armful of books.

"I thought you might want something to read." He said in his quiet voice. He smiled lightly.

"Thanks, Judah. That's very nice of you. Can you set them on the dresser? Isn't it kinda late though?" He obliged, and she picked up the top book, turning her back to him, then she felt the same stab in the back she had earlier. "Judah?" She questioned, as she fell to the floor, shivering again, and her vision dimmed. He looked down at her, no pity in his eyes. She growled, contorting her face into a menacing snarl before she blacked out again.


	10. Chapter 10

~~~10~~~

When she came to, the first thing she noticed was that her hands were bound above her head, and her ankles tied to the floor. Her wrists ached from the chafing ropes, rubbing on old scars. The ropes that bound her hands and feet were knotted to rings in the ceiling. Then she noticed her shirt was gone, and only had bandages on her chest. She still had her leggings and boots on, thankfully.

She squinted when lights flashed on, illuminating the dark room. Red alerts went off in her mind when she saw that the whole large room's floor was stained with dried blood, and various tools of torture hung from hooks on the walls. A tall, buff man with muscles on his muscles walked in, an ugly grin on his face, showing a mouthful of broken, yellow teeth. He strode up to her, stopping a few paces away.

"Did you know they upped your bounty, Whirlwind Sage?" He growled, holding up her WANTED poster. Her picture was there, of her in the middle of a battle with Marines everywhere, her hair whirling, a feral grin on her face. She felt a gleam of pride; she looked fierce and strong. Then her gaze fell to the number below, delighted: 120,000,000beli.

"I did not. Thanks. Now why am I tied?" She asked.

"You don't know who I am?" He seemed genuinely surprised.

"You really think I have the time or interest enough to memorize the names and faces of every ugly dumbass on the Grand Line?" She spat back. He sent his fist into her gut at lightning speed, taking her by surprise as she spit out a glob of blood.

"Know your place, bitch. You don't even deserve to know my name. How pitiful." He laid a callused, dirty hand on her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb. She whipped her head to the side, lashing out with her teeth at his hand. She caught his thumb, and bit as hard as she could before he struck her again and she let go, coughing. "I was just going to kill you and give your head to the Marines, but I think I'll have some fun with you first, you cheeky little bitch." He snarled.

She snarled right back at him, refusing to let him see her fear.

~~~X~~~

He came up with many painful torments for her, and after an hour of beatings, cuts, lashes, and verbal comebacks on her part, she was covered in blood, bruises, and mats of open wounds. She knew from experience that at least two of her ribs were fractured, maybe broken, with about a dozen open lash wounds on her sides on top of that. Her right leg felt numb; the bounty hunter had kicked her knee in, but she twisted it at the last second, causing him to hit the outside of her knee. Her face stung from a large slash on her face, from just before her ear to the bridge of her nose where he had thrown a knife and her and she turned her head to try to dodge it. Blood sheeted down her face from it and another cut above her eyebrow, causing her to have to blink it away every few seconds.

Eventually, she gave up keeping inventory of all the injuries she had sustained. The bounty hunter eventually tired an hour later, leaving her under the watch of an underling. She soon knew he was insanely drunk, when he tried kissing her and she headbutted him in the nose. He collapsed to the floor, snoring.

"You must be one lonely bastard if you try me." She grumbled. "I almost feel sorry for you." She felt very tempted to sleep, but her desire of escaping kept her awake. _It can't be late morning yet, maybe early morning. Nobody will even know I'm gone yet. Okay, it's up to me then._

She tested her bonds, pulling on them experimentally, noting they were decently strong. Determined, she reached up and grabbed the rope above each of her hands, and pulled on the ropes by throwing her body weight side to side. Each time she swung and pulled, her arms flexed, causing the scabbed cuts on her arms and sides to break and ooze blood. She almost gagged with the metallic stench of her own blood. Grimacing with pain, she kept it up until one rope's knot came undone and the other broke. Sighing in victory, she pulled her arms down and shook feeling back into them, splattering even more blood everywhere in the process, then worked the ropes off her wrists, rubbing them.

The man she had headbutted began to rise from the floor, barely realizing she had her hands in his hair before she threw his skull into the floor with a sharp _CRACK_. He went limp, gurgling. She patted him down, pulling a knife from his boot and cutting the ropes off her ankles.

She tested the door, cursing when it was locked. She looked around the room, laying her eyes on a wooden club with thin, spiked nails embedded in it. Shuddering, she went up to it and twisted two of the spikes free, pulling on them with her hard, sharp nails. When she had it, she went back to the door and picked the lock, smiling to herself in victory when the door swung inward on silent hinges. The knife in her hand, she crept out into the long hallway outside, cursing under her breath as she realized she left bootprints in blood behind her.

With stealth learned from years of experience, she silently crossed the hall and saw two men standing at the top of a set of stairs at the end. Both had their backs turned to her, nursing something strong enough she could smell it from where she was. She quickly ran up the stairs and hamstrung them both in one slice, then slit each of their throats before either even had time to scream. She caught the bottle of liquor one was holding as he fell, and took a swig, thankful for the cold fire in her stomach from the alcohol. She kicked their bodies down the stairs so they couldn't be seen from above.

A gangly youth stepped out of one of a handful of doors in the hall, saw her, turned pale, and slapped an alarm on the wall, triggering a loud wailing siren. "Ah, shit. Come on, man." His eyes widened in fear, and he pulled out a pistol from under his belt, struggling to cock it and point it at her. She snorted at his incompetence, then took a single step forward and sent her fist into his temple, knocking him out. He crumpled to the floor, dropping the gun, which she picked up. She stepped over him and glanced into the room, noting it was the kid's bunk, and chugged an unopened plastic bottle of water on his desk before dragging him into the room and closing it quietly. "Oh. Well, why do I even bother? They know I'm out anyways." Then she shrugged and kept going down the hall to yet another set of stairs, when she heard a plethora of screams and the sound of battle raging above her. Curious, she abandoned all stealth and heavily climbed the stairs, grimacing from her wounds. _I'm tired._

In a large room full of overturned tables and wooden chairs and various knots of fighting, she saw Judah in the middle of the room, slicing at one of the bounty hunter's men. She immediately set her sights on him, who blanched and quailed when he saw her. He stood his ground while she sprinted up to him and knocked him down, pinning him beneath her and pressing her knife to his throat.

"You utter, fucking _bastard_, you are! Why did you do this to me?!" She yelled at him, drowning out the noise of the fighting around her. She could barely finish her sentence before a strong pair of arms hooked under hers and lifted her off him. She elbowed the person in the side, and tried wriggling away, but he wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"Sage! Sage, it's me! It's Josh, it's okay. We're here. Calm down." She looked over her shoulder at him.

"Well it's 'bout damned time!"

Then her eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted.


	11. Chapter 11

~~~11~~~

"These only need butterfly stitches, but they'll scar badly." Law informed her, gently and precisely pressing small strips of cloth to the large cuts in her face.

"Two more to the portfolio, I guess." Sage chuckled. "I think they'll be pretty badass."

He regarded her shortly. "That's not a normal girl's response, Miss Sage."

"Why should I care if I have scars on my face? This moneymaker rakes in billions already," She smirked cheekily, gesturing at her face. "Are you almost done, Captain?"

"That's a first. And yes."

"First what?"

"Calling me Captain. You tend to just call me Law."

"I did at the bar on the last island."

"That was sarcastic."

"Would you prefer Captain, then?"

"Yes, considering that I am."

"Law, then. Where's Judah? I want to talk to him."

"Do you have anything else I haven't dealt with?" She shook her head. "Okay. Judah-ya is in the storage room on the third deck. Let's go." She pulled a clean shirt she had brought from her room over her torso, which was completely encased in thick bandages to keep her fractured ribs from breaking even more. Following Law out the door, she left her boots in the infirmary, padding down the halls barefoot.

When they opened the door to the storage room, Judah turned his head towards them, as he sat on the floor. He refused to look Sage in the eye.

"Judah, why did you give me to the bounty hunter?" Sage sank to the floor before him.

"He saw me with you, singled me out as the weakest, pulled me aside, and threatened to kill me if I didn't get you to him. He told me he had a sniper watching me and you, but he couldn't get you alone, so he ordered you shot anyways. That was stupid, actually, on his part. Then, on the way back, he found me again and told me to do what I did."

"And you don't even bother telling any of us?"

"He said he would kill me! And considering what he did to you, I believed him!"

Extending her arm, Sage slapped him as hard as she could, grimacing as she jostled her ribs. "You dumbass, you don't think your crew can protect you? People come together to watch each other's backs. Our captain is the Surgeon of frickin' Death. How many people have a hold against him?" She pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the said man, and Judah stared at her, utterly flabbergasted. She took his face in both hands. "You should trust us more. You're not alone, and on this crew, you never will be. So, I've decided, as your punishment, I want you to go to the galley with everyone there, and tell them all exactly what happened on your part, then apologize and tell them that you should have trusted them more and it won't happen again. Understood, Judah-boy?"

By then, Judah's face streamed tears and he blubbered, "I'm sorry, Sage. I'm so sorry, you're hurt, I'm sorry…" He hid his face in his hands, and Sage pulled him to her, hugging him and petting his head.

"It's okay, shh, it's okay. I forgive you. I know the crew will too. I'll heal in good time. I'm strong like that, ya know?" Then she released him and left him to register all she had said.

Outside, Law faced her and leaned on the doorframe. She mimicked him, letting her temple rest on the cold metal, with her damp hair hanging down her back from a bath. Law said nothing for a moment, regarding her. His eyes locked onto hers, calculating yet not cold. "I had expected something more violent as a punishment from you, Sage-ya."

She raised a brow at him, sighing. "Did you now, Law? I'm not inclined towards useless violence, and I would think you'd prefer I not hurt your crewmembers. I found out the problem, what caused all this," she swept her arms down her body, indicating her wounds, "and solved it. He already feels bad that he didn't trust us; you can easily see that. He was crying, after all. That should be punishment enough for now."

"I'm _inclined_ to think you speak from experience, Sage-ya."

She chuckled. "Ever observant, Captain. Yes, I do."

Law stood up straight, raising an arm towards the stairs. "Enlighten me while we go to the galley." She heaved herself off the doorframe and began walking beside him.

"I have my stories to tell, but I tell them whenever I so choose, Law. And at this moment I would rather not." He stopped on the stairs, him two steps below her, putting their heights at the same level. He glared at her withholding of information, but she leaned forward and put her hand on her hip. "Don't even bother anymore, Law. You don't scare me. Better to just get used to it."

He quickly stepped up to where she was so he towered a good height above her, and she instinctively stepped back, looking up at him. She realized her back was pressed against the wall, him looking down at her with his blank face, slightly angry-looking. "Last I checked, Miss Sage, I was captain here, and you were in _my_ crew. _I_ issue orders here, not the other way around. Take care in the future not to overstep your boundaries. My patience wears thin easily."

Sage curled her head in, wrapping her arms around her waist and grimacing, and she let out a hiss of pain. His feet retreated by a step, but then she looked up at him, grinning like a fool. "You fell for it!" She took advantage of his momentary shock and swiped his hat off his head, then ducked under his outstretched arm and ran up the stairs for her life. _Three two one, _she thought, then heard a frustrated roar from him and clacking footsteps. She ran down the hall and up the next set of stairs, passing Akylas and Jeremy on the second deck, both of whom flattened themselves against the wall to let her and their angry captain pass. On the first deck a few steps from the top of the stairs, Josh walked out of the bunks and stepped right into Sage's path, Law's hat now on her own head. Josh let out a surprised noise just before Sage barrelled into him, knocking them both to the floor, her on top of him. She looked up at him from his chest and grinned with tears streaking down her face, although she was laughing. Law lifted his hat off her head and brushed it off, placing it back on his own to cover his messy hair.

"What the hell? Sage, why are you crying?" Josh questioned worriedly, sitting up. Sage slid to the floor curled up between his legs in front of him, gasping for air while laughing so hard.

"Ow, ow, ow! Damn, that hurt, but it was SO worth it! Law, ha, you should've seen your face!" Then she lost herself to another fit of laughter, bolstered by Josh's utterly confused face at Law.

"Stole my hat." Law stated, glaring at her.

"Oh. You okay, Sage?" She nodded, still grinning. She pushed herself into a sitting position on the floor, clutching her sides as she tried to stop laughing. "Sage, your face is bleeding again." He swiped a thumb over her cheek, showing her the crimson liquid smeared on his finger.

"Miss Sage, get to the infirmary. Mister Josh, come." Law strode off, and as he passed, Sage felt the rage radiating off him. Josh sent her a look as he pulled her up and led her down the hall to the infirmary, Law a few paces ahead.

"I don't think he's amused at my antics…" Sage whispered and nudged Josh. He grimaced comically. They followed Law into the infirmary, and Sage obediently seated herself on a padded table that doubled as beds, waiting for whatever Law and Josh needed to do. Josh stood off to the side handing Law things as he sat in front of her.

"Chin up." Law swept two long fingers under her chin, lifting it up. Sage complied, staring at him, and a bit shocked at the contact. He either didn't notice or ignored her stare, taking clean butterfly stitches from Josh, who Sage noted looked a little conflicted. She wondered why as Law pressed a long strip of cloth to cover the long cut, finally meeting her eyes with his dark grey ones. "You are indeed a pain, Miss Sage."

She grinned childishly. "I know."


	12. Chapter 12

Hey, warning, extremely graphic violence in this chapter. Simply skip this one if you want; you won't miss much. thanks!

~~~12~~~

"Sage-ya, I've brought you a present." Law called to her, beckoning her to cross the sandy beach towards where he stood. Intrigued, she quickly strode over to him. Smirking like a demon, he held out a transparent cube, with a beating heart in it.

"Whose is this?" She asked, taking the cube from his hand and gingerly resting it in her palms. She marvelled at it, still beating strongly and regularly.

"That bounty hunter's. Thought you might like to play with it."

"Oh yeah. Why thank you, Captain. I didn't think you'd go through the trouble." She flashed him a feral grin and slowly squeezed the heart, digging five sharp fingernails into the soft cube. Then, after a few seconds, she released it, mildly entertained. "Where's the rest of him?"

"On the way. Akylas and Jack are bringing him from the hideout. We ambushed him when he came back to see all his subordinates slaughtered or beaten up." She looked over his shoulder.

"Speak of the devil. There he is." She saw Akylas' tall, lean form and bright yellow hair emerging from the forest past the beach alongside Jack, the bounty hunter walking between them, hands bound behind his back. When they reached Law and Sage, they threw the hunter to his knees before her. Law watched as she smiled at the both of them, thanking them for their help, then placed the hunter's heart back in his hands. "You two might not want to see what happens next. Could you both please go inside? And cover your ears, too. Thanks for bringing him." She said sweetly to the mechanic and cook. Law sent her a questioning glance, looking between her and the heart. "Oh, thanks for getting his heart, but I think that's a little too painless of a way to die after doing what he did to me. Don't you agree, Captain? Don't worry, though, I'll kill him eventually by stopping his heart." Then she addressed the kneeling man: "I'll make you go through Hell and back, only to wish you stayed down in Hell." Law almost shuddered at her lowered eyelids and dark, smirking face. He stepped back, giving her space to do what she wanted.

Smiling sweetly again, she pulled out a scalpel from her boot, flicking off the cover from the blade. She admired the sharp point for a short moment before lowering it, slowly carving a long, deep gash in his face, mimicking her own new scar from ear to nose. She grasped his jaw as he groaned, looking him in the eyes with nothing but hatred. "You could have just killed me, just cut my head off and sent me to the Marines, but no, you have to make me _suffer_. Never underestimate my wrath: I'll pay it back ten times over." She spoke while dragging the blade along the sides of his neck, cutting shallow gills into his skin. "Do you know why they call me the Whirlwind?" The man glared up at her. "They call me that because I'm efficient at killing many. I snap necks. It's easy. Painless for the victim. Takes me little effort at all. You don't deserve the same mercy. I don't care if you beg or cry or plead; you're going to die, but before that, you will experience much worse than what you dealt me." She pulled out a knife, much sturdier than a scalpel, from the waistband of her leggings and hamstrung him to make sure he couldn't run. Then she threw down the knife and scalpel onto the sand, and threw a flurry of blows at him, punching both sides of his face and straight on, breaking his nose and then again. His blood spattered her face and fists, and she started to kick him in the stomach, punching his face back up when he doubled over.

She felt hot blood running down her sides, from broken scabs from whipping and blows. "Now look what you've done to me, you worthless piece of shit." He looked up at her, anger in his eyes, and scoffed, spitting out blood as it poured from his mouth and dripped off his chin and onto the golden sand. "Don't give me that look, motherfucker. Actually, let me help you." She picked up the scalpel again, dipped it in the sandy blood, and stabbed his right eye until the orb was mashed into grey matter and blood, then held his left eye open with her left hand and slowly skinned off layers of his eye while he screamed but didn't move, animalistic howls escaping his mouth, only to be interrupted by choking on blood.

"Please, please! Please, just kill me, let me die, you heartless bitch, just kill me!" He yelled and whimpered, tears falling from the gaping holes that previously housed his eyes and running parallel to the rivers of blood on his dirty face.

"Oh, hush up, child." She pried open his mouth and carved out his tongue. Unable to form words anymore, the only sound he could make was a horrible scream of a dying animal, guttural and raw. When she released him, he fell to the side, blood pooling from his mouth and onto the sand. Then she turned to Law, covered in blood with no mercy in her eyes, and held out her hand for the heart he gently clutched in his palm. He placed it in her open hand with a blank face. "Thank you, Captain." She took the knife and slowly pushed it into the center of the soft cube, watching it flutter as it cut itself to pieces on the blade embedded in it. She watched as the bounty hunter writhed on the ground in the large puddle of his own blood, then lay still, twitching. "Have fun in Hell." She kicked the body for good measure, the sighed and fell to the sand on her back, staring up at the red-tinged sky, dyed by the sunset's fading light.

"I would have to say that you are almost as terrifying as I am, Sage-ya." He looked down at her. She turned her head to him, breathing heavily as she clutched her bleeding sides.

"I'm flattered, Law." She pushed herself to her feet. "Could you patch me up again please? I'm bleeding…" She smiled sheepishly.

"Get to the infirmary." He ordered, doctor mode kicking in. Then he teleported the mauled and very dead body of the bounty hunter into the ocean, leaving behind a large puddle of congealing blood.


	13. Chapter 13

Hey everyone, here's the updated Chapter 13. Unfortunately I'm going to be mass-editing of sorts for a little while, so the chapters from here on out might be a little wonky, since I basically delete two chapters and the rest of it is off... I'm really sorry, but I'll try to do it quickly to get the whole thing back on the right track.

~~~13~~~

"Captain! Captain, the island we're going to, Canna Island, there should be a dude with quite a large bounty on his head, someone I've never really liked. Do you think we could turn him in for 80,000,000 beli?" Sage slid into the bench-table in front of Law in the galley, who was nursing a steaming mug of coffee while reading the paper from the News Coo. He sipped from his mug and set it down, laying the paper on the table.

"We do need money. Do you know him well?" He asked, interest piqued.

"He and I threw blows occasionally a while back. He _hated_ me! His epithet is Barracuda, but his actual name is Jacob, I heard."

"Perhaps. We land today, so take me to check it out and see if it's worth it. If we can do it in the time the Log Pose sets, we will. Otherwise we'll just steal from the Marines."

Sage nodded enthusiastically. "Okay. I need to do some shopping there, do you mind coming with me while we gather intel?" He looked up at her with hooded eyes.

"Depends on what you're shopping for."

"I just need some clothes. My favorite pair of leggings got all ripped up with that bounty hunter, and I need some new boots too. Don't worry, I swiped some money on the last island so you don't have to pay."

"Do we even need to turn Barracuda in? I'm sure you could just pickpocket enough money for us. Teach some of the guys how to do that."

Sage laughed. "Maybe Akylas or Jack. They'd have all the ladies falling to their feet and they wouldn't realize what happened. And Josh, too. But do you really want me to? Like, are you serious?"

"Of course. Go ahead. Now you have a task besides doing chores." He resumed reading and returned his attention to his coffee. Sage stood up, leaving him to his reading.

_Maybe I'll teach them on the island. _ Then she decided she'd hang out in the navigation rooms or with the mechanics, and headed down to the navigation room on the third deck.

"Hey guys, how're your boring shifts?" She asked when she opened the door to the navigation room. All four of the men who worked in there, Brandon, Jeremy, Troy, and Jace, were currently present, and looked at her. Brandon was skinny and her height, with medium-length curly brown hair, freckles, and square glasses over his green eyes. Jeremy was just as thin, but taller with short, sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Troy sat at the radar desk, masking his height at 6'1, with short black hair and flashing dark eyes. Young Jace was a fit kid, slightly taller than Sage, with cropped, fuzzy blue hair.

"Exactly like you said, Sage. Spot on." Troy sent her a thumbs-up over his shoulder where he monitored the radar around the sub.

"Why are all of you here? Shouldn't there be only one or two of you on duty now?"

Jace replied. "Germy and I were bored. Came to hang out." He referred to Jeremy with his nickname in the crew. Sage chuckled.

"I gotst a piece of news for y'all, if you wanna hear it."

"Sure." Jeremy affirmed.

"When I was still Captain of the Sage Pirates, there was this dude named Barracuda; he disliked me with a passion. Turns out he's on Canna Island where we're landing today, and I wanna turn him in for his bounty of 80,000,000 beli. Captain said we will if we can do it by the time the Log Pose sets."

"Sounds interesting. Do you know how we're gonna do it?" Brandon asked.

"Nope. Captain will go with me today to get some info about it. I hope we can do it, coz I really hate the dude. When will we land?"

"We're here, actually. Let's get ready. Let me tell the crew." Troy picked up a small handheld radio and clicked it on. "Attention all crewmembers. We have arrived at our destination; all hands report to the galley for briefing. All hands report to the galley for briefing." Sage heard through the open door the slight echo of his message, which had been broadcast to the whole submarine. Then they all rose and went to the galley, where Law stood against the far wall where all the tables could see him. They waited for the whole crew to trickle in, and Law began his announcements.

"We have reached Canna Island. It's an Autumn Island, so dress well enough for a bit of cold. I don't know how far the town is from the shore; if it's too far, we'll stay in a hotel in town, but otherwise, we'll stay here. As long as there are four crewmembers on board at all times during the day to guard and hold the sub down, the rest of you are free to do as you like. Just don't cause any trouble here because there's a Marine base somewhere. I know it's far from the town though. Also, Sage has told me that someone she knows with a bounty of 80 million beli lives on this island and she would like to turn him in for the bounty. Since we're low on money, I have decided that if we can plan and execute it in the time it takes for the Log Pose to set, we will do just that. For today, I will go into town and get some information on that. If we need anything for any duty, stock up and do what you need. Everyone comes back tonight to the sub to sleep, okay? I want one medic, mechanic, kitchen assistant, and navigator to stay today. Any volunteers?" Liam, a medic, Aatami, a kitchen worker, Fuuta, a mechanic, and Troy raised their hands to stay behind. "Good. Navigation staff, surface the sub and release the boats to go ashore. That's all."

Everybody started to leave, each going to check with the leader of their duties to see if they needed anything on the island, and going to get things to take onto shore. Sage returned to her room to get her wallet (which she had stolen from a rude lady who snarled at her), some money, and her white changed out of the sweatpants she wore and into leggings and the white fitted tank top and her ragged boots. Then she went to the deck, where the crew was taking turns going to shore on the two small boats they released to get from the sub to the shore. She found Law and Bepo waiting at the back of the line, and crossed the deck to them.

"I was thinking, while I shop, we three try to get information? You don't have to stay right with me, just in the general proximity, and that way, you two won't get bored with my shopping." Law nodded, handing Kikoku to Bepo to carry while Sage reached up and petted his soft fur.

Stepping off the boat, they headed to the town beyond the port. On a hill straight north, overlooking the city, stood a noble mansion of white marble, sparkling brilliant in the mid-afternoon sun's blaze. Law and Bepo walked nonchalantly around the square they stood in while Sage scanned the shops, and she overheard two teenagers talking excitedly.

"Are you going to Lord Jacob's ball tomorrow night? I am!"

"Of course! Everyone is. I heard he himself will be there. Do you know what he looks like? I've never seen him in person. I heard he's young and handsome, and everyone knows he's really rich!"

"But there's a rumor going around that he liked a girl he knew a long time ago, and still really loves her! I wonder who it is…" At the mention of a town-wide event, Sage walked openly up to the girls and tapped one on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, I'm visiting this island; what is this ball you're talking about?" She asked politely, smiling lightly. The one she tapped turned to see her and gasped a little, her eyes widening. Then she seemed to regain her composure and replied cordially.

"Lord Jacob is the mayor of this town. He's holding a masquerade ball tomorrow, and it's going to be a huge party with dancing and a large banquet." While she talked, her friend kept glancing quickly between looking Sage in the eye and at her cheek, seemingly unable to keep her gaze from straying from her eyes, distracted by the scar on her face.

"Thank you. Maybe I will attend. I'm sure you both will be beautiful." Then she walked away towards Law and heard them mutter to themselves.

"She's pretty, but that huge scar is horrible. I wonder how she got it?" Sage instinctively reached up to touch it, long and puckered silver and pink under her eye.

The other mumbled, "I get the feeling I've seen her before, though. What about you?"

Sage chuckled to herself.

_I must not be famous enough that these kids don't know me… I should work harder._

Then she crossed the square, skirting the large marble fountain of a mermaid, to Law and Bepo, who sat lounging on a bench outside a small boutique. "I got a good piece of gossip just now; I heard tell of a masquerade held at a Lord Jacob's place tomorrow night. If it's a whole island thing, Barracuda might be there."

Law smirked, holding up a large piece of paper. "Would you be talking about this perhaps?" The paper was a poster, with a picture of the mansion on the hill at nighttime, with cheery lights and fireworks behind, advertising the masquerade ball.

"Yup. That. Did you find out how long till the Log sets?"

"No. Do you have something formal enough to wear to it?"

"No, but I'll find something today. Let me grab some jewelry in here and I'll find a dress later." She stepped inside the boutique behind him. Inside, she selected a small black leather clutch, a slim silver bracelet designed with knotting vines, a small, jeweled, red hair clip in the shape of a butterfly, and small diamond stud earrings, all of which she paid for in cash collected from multiple wallets she pickpocketed. As she took the small bag with the jewelry, she addressed the clerk, "Thank you. Do you know how long it takes for a Log Pose to set on this island, by any chance?"

He replied with a smile, "One week."

"Thanks. And do you know where a weapons shop would be?"

"There's one on the edge of town. If you head east out of the square, the store would be on the left a few blocks down." She thanked him again and left, saying hello to Bepo, who stood obediently outside. As she started towards the place the clerk indicated, Law followed and asked her,

"Why do you need to go to a weapon store?"

"When I'm in a dress and heels, it's a little harder to do hand-to-hand combat, so I'd like something small and effective to bring with me. And I can be quite versatile with my methods." She let out a delighted sound when they arrived. This time, Bepo entered with them, Kikoku on his shoulder. Law looked around apart from Sage as she measured a wide band with a knife and needle holster around her upper thigh, seemingly satisfied. The holster carried a dozen slim, single edged needles and a thin, guardless, black-handled blade about the length of her hand from wrist to fingertips. Asking approval from the old man at the counter, she pulled out three needles between her fingers and threw them at a dartboard on the wall. All three stuck cleanly in a neat horizontal line, each the same small distance apart from the other. Nodding, satisfied, she retrieved the needles and slipped them back into the holster. "I'll take it, please. Everything included."


	14. Chapter 14

~~~14~~~

Then they left and returned to the square, which was now lively with children skipping and dancing and singing around the fountain, and split up, each looking around the various stores. She walked past the boutique she had visited earlier, and saw the clerk talking happily with a tall man, dressed decently in jeans and a collared shirt, whose back was turned to her. His hair was styled well, and as he shifted, turning his head so Sage could see him through the window, and she tensed as a wave of recognition ran down her back.

"Barracuda." She whispered. Then she did a 180, immediately quickwalking across the square to Law, who was speaking with Bepo. "Captain… I found him. He's in the boutique there. Look in the window." She gestured at the shop, and Law followed her arm with his gaze to see Barracuda. He studied him for a few moments, memorizing his face.

"He doesn't look like a pirate. But I just saw his wanted poster in the alleyway, along with yours." He sent Sage a slightly questioning look.

"What was the picture?" She asked.

"His face from mouth up was shadowed over."

"He always wore a large headdress thingy, like the head of a fish. The canine teeth hung over his face. That explains why no one recognizes him now, but I wonder why he's not pirating anymore. Do you think they'll still take his bounty?"

"I don't know. I suppose we'll find out tomorrow."

"I'm gonna go find a dress. You can hang out around here for now. I won't be long." He nodded, and she left, finding a nice-looking store across the square. Entering, she immediately searched for the row of formal clothes, pawing through the various colored dresses hanging there. After going through two of the three racks, she picked out a red sweetheart-lined dress, then brought it with her to get a pair of heels. Browsing quickly, she grabbed a pair of strappy black wedges in her size and took them both to the dressing room.

Finally managing to zip up the dress herself, she looked herself over and took in the details of the dress. It was strapless, revealing only a moderate amount of cleavage, perfect for her modesty. The bodice was ruched, a deep wine red, and a diagonal band of transparent black lace stretched over the hip as the transition to the skirt, which was a dark crimson, a thick sheet of soft, stretchy fabric with a deep slit over her right thigh. She smiled at the convenience of it; she could strap her knife and needle holster to her left leg and have easy access to her weapons quickly without it being seen when she didn't need them.

She swung her arms and legs gently around, testing her range of movement, satisfied when the dress allowed her to twist and move smoothly. Then, since the dress pooled on the floor, she slipped on the heels, gaining three inches, so it barely brushed the floor.

_Perfect._ She stepped out of the heels and dress, changing back into her clothes, and paid for them and left.

"So you have a plan?" She asked Law when she found him outside.

"I'll think about it. Let's get back to the sub, anyways."

They walked through the town for a few minutes in silence, and when the sub came into view, Sage asked, "Do you guys think the crew still doesn't trust Judah?"

Bepo answered first, his beady black eyes blinking innocently. "I think they're cautious of him, but they seem to treat him the same as before. I think they were all really shocked when he told them, but he apologized and I think most of them have forgiven him, just like you. I think it's great you did forgive him, Sage. It takes more strength to forgive than to give revenge."

Then Law gave his two cents: "I think they trust him because you do. But some don't, and those ones are angry mainly because you got hurt, for example, Josh, or a little bit in Shachi and Penguin. And by the way, the whole crew saw you torture the guy."

Sage blanched, grimacing at him. "They did?..." She whined.

"Why are you so worried?"

"That's a side of me I'd rather not show to people I'm not extremely close to. It tends to push close people away from me; they get terrified…"

Bepo spoke up shyly, "I think that our crew's opinion of you hasn't changed. We're pirates, after all, and you were just giving him back what he gave you. And we all knew you're a fearsome fighter in the first place." She looked up at the bear, smiling.

"Thank you, Bepo. I needed that." Then she gave him a hug, which he returned for the first time, and that drew a grin onto her face.

~~~X~~~

"It's odd seeing you guys in something other than your normal outfits. This is fancy," Sage commented when she dropped by the guy's bunks to see them. She hadn't changed yet, and was getting cleaned up after the guys used the showers. Law had chosen Josh, Shachi and Penguin, Aatami, Jace, Jack, and Akylas to go to the ball with them, although they would arrive at separate times to prevent suspicion of a large group of guys attending. Law himself would take Sage in.

The chosen crewmembers had stolen suits from various people the previous day, and they were fixing themselves up. Shachi and Penguin looked uncomfortable in the formal attire, and had refused to give up their hats for the night. Sage tried to convince them to leave them behind. "But you two look so out of place. All they're going to do is attract attention."

"Our hats stay with us. I refuse to take it off!" Shachi argued, crossing his arms. Penguin agreed with him with a grunt of approval. Giving up, Sage sighed, and looking across the room, saw Jace struggling to tie his tie, and she went to him.

"You should learn this sometime. Watch." She untied it and tied it properly for him, fixing the blue cloth. "Funny, it matches your hair."

"I like my hair color. It's different." He swept a hand over it, but it refused to stay down and just spiked straight up again, being too short to style any way.

"I like it too, Jace." Then she went to get ready herself while the first to leave began preparing their Baby Den Den Mushis that they would use at the ball.

Back in her own room, she pulled back the top half of her hair and clipped it with the red pin, leaving the longer hair to cover the long, dark scar on her back and right shoulder with the curly, wild strands. She swept a light pink lip gloss across her lips, and coated her eyelashes in oil to highlight her bright green eyes. After stepping into her dress, she slipped on the bracelet, pinned on her earrings, and tucked a few thousand Beli in the small purse, also packing in a scalpel; namely, the one she used on the bounty hunter. She reached into the drawer where she kept an array of small and large weapons, and selected a sharp, square razor blade in a plastic case, tucking it between her breasts. She also strapped the holster she bought to her right upper thigh, with the needles and knife on the inside of her leg, then checked herself that the weapons couldn't be seen when she stood normally or walked. She decided to check on Law, who would escort her into the ball. She picked up her heels and walked barefoot down the hall, then knocked on his door.

"Come in, Miss Sage."

"Am I too quiet to be one of the guys?" She chuckled, opening the door. He turned to face her. He was dressed in slick black slacks, his normal leather shoes, and a black button-up shirt which was half-open on the top, revealing a good amount of tan skin and tattoos. His long, slim fingers worked slowly on each button, and a yellow tie hung undone around his neck. She privately thought he looked very handsome.

"Yes, you are. One of the men would be stomping around." She smirked, subtly checking him out once more before she walked in.

"I'm flattered. You should wear all black more often. It suits you."

He finished buttoning his shirt, leaving one undone, and began tying his tie. She walked across the room and seated herself on his bed, crossing her legs and began slipping on her heels. As she worked the straps on her heels, she knew he was looking her up and down. She looked up at him, finishing with her shoes, and met his smirking gaze. "Like what you see?"

His smirk grew even wider. "Indeed, Miss Sage."

~~~X~~~

"Come in, Miss Sage."

The first thing he saw was red. Red like blood. It was a good color on her. Then he noticed the glow she had, like she radiated warmth and confidence.

"Am I too quiet to be one of the guys?"

"Yes, you are. One of the men would be stomping around." As she stepped in, her eyes raked up and down, looking him over, and she smirked, knowing he saw.

"I'm flattered. You should wear all black more often. It suits you." She started towards his bed, and he wondered if she had tried to make that walk _so sexy_ or had she not tried at all? As she was turned from him, he noted the amazing hourglass of her body, a stunning curve he had rarely noticed before. Then she sat on his bed and crossed her legs, showing him a good amount of long, soft skin through the slit in the fabric, and an image of her, lying on that same bed with the dress thrown on the floor, flashed through his head. "Like what you see?"

He allowed his smirk to widen. How observant of her. "Indeed, Miss Sage."


	15. Chapter 15

~~~15~~~

On the way to the white mansion, Law and Sage purchased masks from a vendor, which were both black, covered the top halves of their faces, and concealed Sage's scar. They entered the mansion's wide open doors with Sage on Law's left arm, and she immediately looked for their crewmates, who were stationed around the party. The doors led to a large open room with a polished dance floor in the middle and long lines of tables laden with various foods on each side of the room. On the far side of the ballroom, there were two curving marble staircases with red carpets leading up to the second floor's balcony, where handfuls of people spoke among themselves with more privacy. _How convenient,_ Sage thought. "Do you see him, Law?" He shook his head, still peering around the room with his nonchalant smile on his face. "He'll be wearing a mask just like everyone else, but I know how he walks and what his body looks like. I'll find him. Where's our party?"

Law indicated with a furtive gesture at each of the crewmembers as he named them, pointing them out. Shachi and Penguin were easiest to find, with their unusual hats by the food tables, and Jace with his bright blue hair on the balcony above, chatting with a short girl in a white dress. Aatami, with his hair in a braid down his neck, was dancing with someone to a jazzy song on the floor, and Akylas, taller than most, stood by the stairs, seemingly admiring the place. She spotted Josh with his blonde hair, also dancing with a blushing young girl in a blue dress. "Shall I leave you to find him?" Law asked her. She nodded, and he departed. She watched him wander around the room, then get asked to dance by a shy girl who got pushed toward him by her friends. As he accepted, she headed to the food tables casually and picked up a few chocolate strawberries, then approached Akylas, who took a moment to recognize her.

"Hey Akylas. What's going on?" She leaned forward on the handrail of the staircase.

"Nothing much, Sage. I don't know what Barracuda looks like. Have you seen him?" Sage looked around, spotting him talking to one of the greeters at the front. People entering never recognized him; he just smiled and went on. She was actually surprised when she didn't feel any compulsion or hate towards him.

"There, by the door. Tall, dark hair, thin." Akylas followed her gaze, and memorized him.

"Ah. Okay. What will we do?"

"Well, first, you tell all the crew, or tell one and tell him to inform the next, et cetera. I'll get him away somehow and catch him by surprise, then we turn him in. Hopefully we can get him away without causing a ruckus, but that's a tall order." She noticed, throughout the minutes she stood by Akylas, a man would walk towards her, then realize she was talking to him, and retreat. "Ah, I should get away from you. You're scaring away all the boys. Although when I get sick of them, I'll get back to you. You look good in a suit, by the way."

"You look very nice also, Sage. Have fun." He seemed rooted to the spot, and she nudged him.

"Go ask someone to dance, Akylas, don't be a wallflower! You could have all the ladies drooling if you just went to them!" She gave him a playful push out and away from the stairs, and he laughed, then weaved through the room, searching for someone to dance with him, and also to tell Shachi and Penguin who and where Barracuda was. She chuckled.

She spent about an hour dancing with a dozen guys, talking happily, saying she was visiting the island, and making sure she was always in the vicinity of Barracuda. She had made eye contact with him a handful of times and smiled, but he never seemed to feel the need to move to her and talk, so she took her own initiative. While he wasn't talking to someone, she approached him from behind and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, a small smile on his face. "Excuse me, but you seem familiar. Have I met you before?" She asked politely.

"Perhaps. You look familiar as well; May I have your name, miss?"

"Mine is Selena. Yours?" She saw Law standing a few meters away in the throng of people, and caught his eye for a split second.

"You have a fine name. I go by Jacob. Do you live on this island?"

"I'm visiting; I travel around a lot with my friends. I'm from the South Blue originally. What about you?"

"I do live here, but I wasn't born here. I travelled as well, and moved here about eight months ago." As he spoke, Law strode up with his hands in his pockets, then stood beside and slightly behind Sage and slipped an arm around her waist, almost protectively. Sage saw that Barracuda's smile faltered for a split second, then he fixed it and brightened again. "And who is this?"

"We're traveling together with a group of friends. Isn't that right?" She looked up at him expectantly.

"Right. Alexander," He introduced himself under his fake name, and shook Barracuda's hand. Barracuda sent him a smile.

"Jacob. Good to meet you. May I steal Selena for this next dance?" He asked as a slow song began to play, the sound emanating from the group of musicians in the corner to the right beside the staircase.

"Be my guest, but ask her." Law sent her a sly look, and Sage paused for a moment before accepting. Barracuda escorted her onto the floor. During the dance, she kept up polite, small conversation. Sage's guard was always up, eyes flashing.

The song ended, and he led her up the stairs to the balcony overlooking the floor. She furtively scanned the room, identifying all her crewmates. She saw Josh standing opposite the room on the second floor. His eyebrows rose a bit, questioning, and she ever so slightly shook her head, indicating to stay away. Then, to Barracuda, she spoke softly, too quiet for anyone else to hear. "How is it you manage to keep your identity hidden still?"

Barracuda's eyebrows rose, his interest piqued. "Oh? Do you not believe me when I say my name is Jacob?"

She looked him in the eyes, smirking a little. "How could I? I know you, Barracuda_._"

"How is it that you know me? I am sure I don't know you; I know no Selena, and I have yet to see someone as beautiful, that's for sure."

"Really? My thanks, but don't you love someone still? I heard a rumor flitting around that you still love a girl from your past, and to earn your affections, she must be astonishingly beautiful. Please, enlighten me. I'm very curious."

He leaned on his forearms on the railing of the balcony, glancing throughout the room, then to her. "She is very beautiful, but I don't know where she is now. She hated me." His brow crinkled sadly as he mentioned the woman's hate. "I'm pretty sure she's still alive, though, because I see her picture in the paper occasionally. The last time I saw her, she was hurt, yet smiling. In her worst condition, she still smiled, because she had her friends backing her. That's what I love her for." His gaze softened.

"What's her name?" Now, she was genuinely curious.

He sighed, met her gaze with pain in his eyes, then averted his gaze to watch the crowd. She almost didn't catch the name as it dropped from his lips.

"Her name is Sage."


	16. Chapter 16

~~~16~~~

She didn't let the words sink in, and instead decided to leave it for later. "The Whirlwind Sage? Interesting; a pirate." She leaned on the railing on her forearms. "You could be a little more careful with hiding your past, Barracuda." His eyes widened, face blanking into a look of pure shock.

"Who are you?!" Lightning quick, his arm darted up and tried to knock her mask off her face, but she grabbed his hand and bent it back at the wrist. He writhed, sinking to the floor from the pain in his hand, and looked up at her. "I know you." He muttered.

"Yes you do. But what I want to know is why you stopped pirating, Barracuda."

"What if I told you I didn't?" His free hand reached into his jacket pocket and pressed something, without her noticing. She snorted.

"You'd still be on the seas. I haven't seen you on your ship for almost a year."

"So you're a pirate, too, huh?" He snapped his hand around, wrenching it from her grip, then aimed a punch to her stomach. She covered her stomach with her forearms, but was taken by surprise by a strong pair of arms wrapping around her torso, gripping her tightly. The person lifted her off the ground and hauled her into a room whose door was held open by Barracuda. The person was wearing a black suit, and she shot both her elbows into his sides, but to no effect. However, the person threw her towards the opposite side of the room, where she hit the wall on her back and fell to the floor. The huge man started towards her, and Sage immediately grabbed three needles from her holster and threw them at him, where they stuck in a horizontal line in his neck. He made the dumb mistake of pulling them out, and fell to the floor in a rapidly expanding puddle of his own blood. She turned her attention to Barracuda, who gave her a fleeting shocked glance and ran out the door. She jumped to her feet, ignoring the ache from her back, and slipped out the door to chase him down, only to run into another black-clad buff man. Before she could react, he had a large fist raised to strike her, but before he made contact, he stiffened and fell to the side, with a small blade embedded in his neck. She looked over, and Josh stood there, prepping more knives before grabbing the one he threw from the man's neck.

"Damn! I thought you were a medic, not a fighter."

"I'm a pirate. I'd be a liability if I couldn't defend myself. Come on, they're after you!" He grabbed her hand, pulling her along the hallway.

"Where's Barracuda? And how did he get them to come after me?"

"I think he's downstairs." He pointed. "There! Akylas and Aatami are fighting him." They started down the stairs, where Barracuda and two of his henchmen were engaged with their crewmates. Barracuda's back was turned, and Sage immediately sent two needles into the temples of his men, and they collapsed to the floor. He looked bewilderedly at his men on the ground, then saw her and immediately angrily started towards her. Akylas jumped on him, pinning him to the ground with a knee, but more of his men swarmed Josh and Sage. Josh, in the fray, was struck in the gut and went down on a knee, and Sage received a large cut, high up on her right thigh. Aatami sent a handful flying with individual roundhouse kicks and palm strikes, which gave her a moment to recollect her focus and take down two with her knife and needles, then a third with a back-kick between his legs with her heels. Josh saw and gave a sympathetic "Ouch!" for the guy. "You're vicious!" He jokingly commented, eyes wide.

"I warned you a while back didn't I?" She replied with a smile as she, Josh, and Aatami finished the last two of the men. She saw that the civilians had fled, relieved that hopefully no one was hurt. Akylas still had Barracuda pinned, but they all looked around confusedly when a voice rebounded around the room, from a megaphone.

"Captors of Lord Kuda! Surrender! You're surrounded; you can't get away!" Sage spat.

"Fuck! Marines! Let's go!" Akylas hauled Barracuda up, and he struggled to keep grip on him as he writhed to get free, screaming. Sage went to them and swiftly hit him over the head with a fist. "Shut up for now." She muttered as he fell unconscious.

"Thanks." Akylas threw him over his shoulder and they all swept out the doors, joined by the rest of their crew and Law, who looked agitated. They beheld the sight of many Marines stationed around the whole mansion.

"Sorry Captain, I set him off. My bad." She scratched her head sheepishly. Law just sent her a quick glare, pulling off his mask. The others did the same, discarding their masks.

"Well, let's take care of them. Someone call the ship, send reinforcements." Josh hurried to pull out his Baby Den Den Mushi while the rest of them jumped into action, engaging the Marines.

"Sage! Hold on!" He called before she got too far.

"What?!" She demanded.

"I need to cover up that cut on your leg! It's bleeding too much, and with you fight-"

"Fine. Please hurry up, though!" She returned to his side, and he rummaged through his grey first-aid backpack, which he had stashed in a room in the mansion during the ball. He knelt while he cleaned and bandaged it, and Sage was acutely aware of the feeling of his hands on her leg. He finished, and she thanked him and immediately re-entered the battle, using her knife and needles rather than her normal acrobatics, because of her dress and heels. She stole two swords from the Marines, and used them with her knife in her teeth. _Ha, I feel like Roronoa Zoro. He's pretty awesome, though._ She thought, and chuckled to herself. She had met him when she ran into Luffy's crew on the Grand Line, and secretly admired his will to train everyday, although he never did anything else but drink and sleep. _Do they have anyone stronger in the Marines? All they're giving us is small fry…_ She sighed as she stabbed a few more necks and hamstrung a handful. Then, she found she was surrounded in a tight circled by more than a dozen Marines, who wielded a variety of weapons. They surprised her by changing tactics and jumping on her all at one time, instead of one at a time. Crushed under the weight of all the men, she fell to the ground and began struggling, suffocating on the stench of sweat and blood. She bit the hand of one, kicked another, scratched bloody furrows into the face of one with a knife, and received various injuries all over her; bruises from the butts of rifles, cuts from lashing swords. After what seemed like eternity under all the writhing men and struggling on her part, the weight on her seemed to lift, and one by one, the men in the dogpile disappeared. She threw off the last two on her own, and was greeted by Akylas, who hefted one of them (who came back and attacked again) and threw him against his fellow Marines, knocking them all back. He pulled her up.

"Thanks, Akylas. Damn! They're getting a little smarter."

"What?! No way!" He cried in mock surprise, chuckling. "You look a little ruffled there."

"No shit, sherlock. I'm in battle, in a freaking _dress _and _heels!_ I ain't used to this fancy stuff; cut me some slack!" They laughed, and resumed kicking some Marine ass. She finally found someone strong, a large man with a spiked mace on the end of a three-foot chain and handle. She stayed close to him, in his personal space, so his mace couldn't get to her. He made multiple attempts to grab her and push her away with his free hand, but she stabbed at his hand when it came close, flipping around and away from his grip. She landed dozens of hits and a stab in the belly.

"Let's go! Back to the sub!" Law yelled, and broke through the Marine line, which was quickly thinning with their backups from the submarine. His command broke Sage's focus, and she heard a dull _THUNK_ and felt a sharp pain in her temple, knocking her from consciousness.

~~~X~~~

"Let's go! Back to the sub!" Law commanded, charging through the gap in the Marines. Breaking the line of opponents, he allowed his crewmembers to file through it, fighting off more useless, weak Marines. Akylas and Jack carried Barracuda between their shoulders. He looked around the open lawn where the fighting had taken place and immediately saw Sage's red dress, but what confused him temporarily was that she was lying on the ground unconscious. Then he registered the large man with a spiked mace standing over her triumphantly, and raised his mace to deal the killing blow. Filled with rage, he muttered, "Room!" and teleported himself to right under the Marine over Sage, and stabbed him through the stomach. He didn't even bother to only separate him with his powers; he just chopped him into bloody chunks on the lawn, then tucked Sage under his arm and teleported away from the battlefield.

When he was in the forest by the town, safely away from the Marines, and was satisfied he had lost them, he leaned Sage against a tree and examined her head, trying to find the source of her bleeding. He found it on her temple, where she had been bruised and cut by the mace, but luckily, it was only a graze. He brushed away some of her hair, wiping away some blood on her cheek with a thumb. He took a moment to take in her appearance, openly staring like he never would when she was awake; her smooth jawline, full, slightly parted lips. Then her eyes opened and he revelled in their depths, admiring the gold ring in the sea of green in her eyes before he registered that she was _awake_ and looking back at him expectantly. _Then_ he registered that his hand still cupped her jaw, thumb on the cleft of her chin. He immediately pulled it back, looking away embarrassedly for a quick second.

Sage swiftly covered the awkward moment by bringing a hand to her head, groaning. "Damn, how many shots did I take?" She joked, grinning cheekily at him.


	17. Chapter 17

~~17~~~

She came back to awareness with a soft touch near her temple, which throbbed intensely, but the touch didn't exacerbate it; in fact, it was somewhat comforting, something she hadn't experienced in much too long. After a few moments, the touch travelled down her face to her jaw and wiped away something on her cheek with a smooth finger. When the hand held her face and its thumb rested just below her lip, she forced her eyes open, commanding them to focus on the face before her. Law was a foot from her face, studying her, and seemed entranced looking her in the eye for a few moments. She looked back into his cloudy gray eyes, taking in his messy hair, soft gaze, and tanned skin. _Was he always this handsome? Maybe it's the suit and tie..._ She asked herself, but then he recollected his thoughts and yanked his hand away, quickly pulling his gaze away from her, embarrassed. She realized she needed to say something, and blurted humorously, "Damn, how many shots did I take?"

He seemed relieved, huffing out a sigh. "Fewer than I, apparently. How are you?" She chuckled at his response, and tried getting up, but stopped after moving a few inches.

"It hurts a lot. I kinda got thrown into a wall, and a bunch of Marines dogpiled on me."

"Okay." From his kneeling position, he slid his arms under her shoulders and legs, lifting her while he stood. After a few moments of wide-eyed shock, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Can't you teleport us back?"

"I used my powers too much back there. I can't anymore until I rest." Which was a lie, but she didn't have to know that.

"Oh. What happened to the guy with the mace?" She looked up at him and asked, curious.

"He is sufficiently very, very dead." He replied, still looking forward.

"In pieces, I hope?"

"Of course." He looked down at her with a little laughter on his face.

She smiled. "Thanks." She looked at her leg, showing through the slit in her dress, and realized she was missing two of her needles from the holster on her thigh. "Dammit."

"What?"

"I left two of my needles somewhere."

"I got them. They're in my pocket with my scalpels. You left them in the mace-guy's ribcage."

"Oh, thank you! I have a little OCD with how much of something I have; I have a dozen, and when it's not, I go a little crazy over it." He just hummed. "I'm sure you do too, a little bit. God, your room is just _too_ damn clean! When do you get the chance to clean it everyday?"

He chuckled. "I practice by teleporting things back to where they need to be. It strengthens my powers and helps save time."

"Ah. How convenient! And then there's just me; I've got a whole drawer of just random weapons all crammed in there. I don't even bother sorting them; I try, then I'm like 'screw this!'" She threw in a flippant hand wave to enunciate her nonchalance, which elicited a smile and laugh from Law. "Hah! You actually, _really_, smiled! It's a miracle! Oh man, the crew's never gonna believe me!" He tried glaring at her, which only bolstered her laughter. "Law, you don't scare me anymore; I'm on the same level. Ya can't make me shut up just with a look!" He sighed, and readjusted his grip on her. He moved his hand, and the cloth beside the slit on her right leg fell away, allowing him to touch her skin. It caught her attention, but she didn't fix it, simply admiring his long fingers and smooth, tattooed skin. _Still got those sexy hands… Wait what the hell?_


	18. Chapter 18

~~~18~~~

When they reached the ship, Sage changed into a tank top and spandex shorts, to get out of the ripped, dirty dress and to give the medics easier access to her wounds. Her middle was bound for her sore back from hitting the wall, and her hair was tied up so they could wrap her head injury. Also, dozens of smaller bruises and cuts were treated all over her. The ship was submerged and rested in a small underwater cave off the reef of the island to prevent detection by the Marines.

When she was finished, she went to the galley with the whole crew to see Barracuda, who had been treated already for his small accumulation of wounds and was waiting there, sitting at a table with his hands bound with Kairoseki handcuffs. When she entered, his back was turned. Jaxon was sitting before him, along with a handful of other crewmates, and muttered something to him she couldn't hear, and Barracuda slowly turned, seeing her with increasing horror. She slipped into the bench in front of him as the crewmembers made room for her, maintaining straight eye contact with him as she sat down. He said nothing, just sat wide-eyed, gaping at her.

"You! Why are you on this ship?!" He finally managed to say.

She snorted. "I have no better answer than you, Barracuda. Why are you no longer pirating?"

"Why would I tell you anything, you demon bitch?!"

"Now now, you call me names half-heartedly. I know your real feelings."

"The fuck are you talking about?! I hate you." His voice trailed off as he finished.

"Really. You told me straight to my face that you love me." His shock turned to absolute horror. "That kind of sucks for you, 'cause I want to turn you in to the Marines for your bounty. It better not be null." She threatened.

He looked down at his lap, his voice quiet. "That was you? No wonder."

"So tell me why you're not on the seas anymore."

He glared at her, but started talking. "After the last battle we had, there was a rockslide on the next island, and I got caught under a falling boulder. I got out, but my right hip got dislocated and fractured my pelvis and femur. I couldn't walk for six months, but my crew transported me to Canna island, under my real name. While I recovered, I made a lot of connections with the higher-ups in the town and they made me mayor, but the general townspeople don't know it's me. I've been there eight months."

"Okay, so what about the ball? Why have that if you wanna stay undercover?" His reaction completely threw her off.

He blushed madly and looked down and to the side. "July 16th is the day we met, when you were 18 with the Spade Pirates. Do you remember that?" He asked shyly.

She knotted her brows together, trying to recall. "No. It was a long time ago."

"It was in the afternoon, and you were at the bounty posters, looking at all of them. I came up and saw you, and I knew who you were from the picture I'd seen. And I bragged I had a higher bounty than you, 'cause yours was only 15 million at the time and mine was 25 million."

"Now I remember. Man, you were an ass." He winced at her jab.

"I'm sorry. As I kept seeing you on the seas, I realized that I had fallen for you, but I had already made you hate me. I'm sorry."

"What am I going to do with you, Barracuda?"

"What do you want from me?" He asked.

"Well, we tracked you down for your bounty, honestly. We need money."

"Both you and I know it's not worth all the work. The Marines would chase you down and want to arrest you when you try to turn me in."

"What happened to your crew?"

"We disbanded. Hardest decision of my life."

"At least they're alive." She muttered, looking away.

"I know. I read about it in the paper. I'm sorry." She slapped her palms on the table, got up, and stormed out.

"You deal with him please, Law." She said, before slamming the door behind her. She immediately went to her own room and slid on her back down the door, landing heavily on the floor in a ball. She knew she should be flattered Barracuda liked her, but she felt like it was only a drag, frustrating her. If she hadn't known, she would have immediately turned him in, but now that she did, she knew she couldn't. It felt immoral, sending him to his death when he probably thought she was merciful and couldn't do any wrong. _Argh!_

~~~X~~~

"You deal with him please, Law." Barracuda winced as the door slammed with a loud _THUD_. Law, who had been standing off to the side, took him by the arm and led him out without a word, taking him to his quarters. He dumped him into the chair before his desk before sitting in it, examining him with drawn brows and a slight scowl.

"What?" Barracuda asked. When an answer wasn't forthcoming, he blurted, "Can I join this crew?" Law sat back, surprised.

"Why?"

"I love her too much, I can't stand to not see her anymore! I've already lost my crew and I'm alone in the town. I won't be a liability; I can fight, and you can have all the money in my mansion! It's more than double my bounty!" As he begged, Law realized that the man _annoyed _him, and he couldn't figure out _why. _

He sat in silence for a handful of minutes. "Go back to the galley. I will think about it. Don't get your hopes up." He kicked him out, and he immediately headed back to where the whole crew was, but Law went to Sage's door and knocked lightly on it. "Sage-ya?" There was no answer, and he tried the knob. It being unlocked, he slowly swung it open to see her curled up in her bed with her blankets up to her chin, her hair messily framing her sleeping face. He walked in, approaching the bed quietly, and as he came closer, he saw tears streaked down her face, shiny lines trailing both over her cheeks and out the corners of her eyes, into the pillow. He felt something tug at his heartstrings, and he squatted next to her bed, watching her calm face. He reached out to brush some of her hair away, but yanked his arm back quickly. In all of his medical training, he had no idea what he had come down with.

He was drawn from his contemplation when Sage opened her eyes, took one look at him, and pulled the covers over her face, curling into an even tighter ball. "What do you want, Captain?" She asked, sounding like a small child, muffled under the covers. He slipped his fingers under her blanket and pulled it down to see her eyes.

_So cute..._ "Sage-ya, Barracuda asked to join this crew." Her eyes widened with shock at his statement.

"What did you say to him?" Her voice was filled with anxiety.

"I haven't decided yet. I thought you might want a say in the matter." He pulled the blanket down to uncover her whole face. She pouted, pursing her lips.

"I don't know, Law. I really don't know. I know I would feel horrible if I turned him in now, but we spent so much time and energy getting him. Do you think we should let him in?"

"Well, as you say that he fought on par with you, he would be a good fighter. He's got a high bounty as well. But I think if it's worth your crying over, I don't think I will. He'd just be on your heels all day, annoying you. He told me he wanted to join because he loved you too much to not be with you anymore." He said the first sentences analytically, then caringly, but then ground out the last sentence through his teeth. Sage wondered why.

"You know, I know I should be flattered, but it only causes me frustration to know that." She gently pulled her covers off and sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Law's head was now level to her knees, and he looked up at her. "Fine. No. I don't want him on this crew. And I know it's harsh, but I can't let myself live with a dog on my trail all the time. "

"Then we'll take his bounty's worth in beli from him and leave him here."

She smiled. "Yeah, sounds good." He started to shift to stand up, but she stopped him and gently cupped his face in her hand. "Law, thank you. For taking my feelings into account and thinking about me." Then she pulled her hand away, her fingertips falling down the line of his jaw before landing in her lap. He smirked and left.

She sat on her bed alone for a few moments before getting up and following him to the galley, where the crew still waited with Barracuda. She looked around, and saw that Josh was glaring at Barracuda, as if he wanted to set him on fire with just a look. _What did he do?_ Law made an announcement to the crew:

"Crew, we will return Barracuda to the town. He will pay us his bounty's worth in beli, and we will leave. That is all." Then he instructed Liam and Akylas to take him to the storage room, where he would wait until they could get him back into town. It was agreed that they would send him in the middle of the night, and he would leave 80 million beli at the outskirts of town. They would then take the money and leave the island.

Sage went to see him in the storage room with Law and Josh on her heels. Barracuda stood pacing the room, and looked up when she opened the door.

"How could you be so cold?" He asked her, not accusingly, but accepting.

"Cold? I could have turned you in. Hell, I could have slaughtered your ass into cubes and saved your head and still get the money! And you call me cold?" She threw her hands up in anger as she spoke, and he flinched at her words. "You're fucking lucky I'm letting you live."

"I'll never be a lucky man unless I can be with you," he replied softly. She frowned and started to say something else, but he stepped towards her and crashed his lips onto hers. She jumped and froze, utterly taken by surprise. He withdrew, hurt in his eyes, and she took a trembling step back, still shocked. Then Josh entered her field of vision and sent a fist into Barracuda's face, his face a picture of rage, and Barracuda was sent sprawling onto the floor in a heap. Sage's jaw shook and she did a 180, sweeping out of the room, shouldering past a glaring Law.

She stalked down the hall, slamming her door behind her. Her fingers rested on her lips, then she vigorously wiped them over her mouth.


	19. Chapter 19

~~~19~~~

They had taken Barracuda back to his mansion without letting him see Sage before he left the next night; she had avoided him the whole day, staying in the galley and refusing to see him. Law was one of the party to return him and retrieve the money, and as they got back in the extreme early morning, he went right to bed. However, his freaking insomnia wouldn't let him sleep for more than a few hours, so he woke up right when breakfast was being called, but he stayed in bed with his eyes closed to rest some more. Half an hour after breakfast, he heard a knock on his door and a muffled questioning, "Captain?" He didn't reply, hoping they would go away, but instead, the door opened and the person walked stealthily in, telling him it was Sage. He heard her set a tray down on his desk, presumably of food since he had missed breakfast, and she stood there without doing anything for a good minute. He knew she was looking him over, since he was on his back, wearing only sweatpants, with his arms splayed on either side of him and the covers down at his hips. Then she stalked quickly out without closing the door, and returned a minute later, closing it. She approached the bed and he heard a small pop, recognizing the sound of a marker being uncapped. He still didn't move when she climbed onto his bed with one knee, but the bed was so large she had to crawl all the way onto it to reach his face. She ended up on the bed with her knees on either side of his hips, her left hand planted beside his head, and the marker suspended in her right hand. Right as she was about to draw something on his face, his eyes shot open and grabbed her wrist, stopping her descending marker. Then he grabbed her left hand and pushed it towards the headboard so she fell onto the bed.

"Kya!" She let out a high-pitched squeak as she hit the bed, and he rolled himself over and above her so she was trapped beneath his sheets from the legs down, with his knees by her hips and her arms pinned above her head. As she strained to try to mark his arm with the pen, he subtly looked her over. She was wearing a tank top and leggings, and the simple outfit clung to her body in all the right places. Immediately, the picture of her red dress on the floor flashed through his head and he smirked. "Aah~ Dammit. I wanted to prank you! You never sleep this late!"

"What if I told you I wasn't asleep?"

"I would believe you, with your insomnia. So red pill or blue pill?" She added under her breath. His smirk widened, but he heard footsteps approaching, and Josh took that unfortunate moment to open the door.

"Captain, where did you put-" He saw them, loudly exhaled, and closed the door.

Law sighed and returned his gaze to the _highly _attractive woman beneath him, and was extremely amused to find she was pouting.

"Shit."

~~~X~~~

During the next two days they sailed towards Shabondy Archipelago, where Sage knew that the other ten of the Twelve Supernovas were also gathering. It had originally been the Eleven Supernovas, but her bounty's boost to 120,000,000 beli had catapulted her into the league of rookies with over 100 million beli bounties. _Maybe I can see Luffy and his crew there. Hey, Zoro and I have the same bounty!_

She had been thinking about which area of the ship to help out in, but decided to be an assistant in every field, because she was at least somewhat useful in all the aspects, which were navigation, mess*, engineering, and medicine. She also tended to be on part of the laundry team with another random member each Friday, since the others were needed for their own specialties, but she kept the strict rule of doing her own laundry during the week so none of the male members would handle her clothes.

When she had extra time during the day or in between meals she sparred with various members of the crew who specialized in hand-to-hand combat, such as Bepo, Aatami, and Shachi and Penguin. Bepo and Aatami proved to be quite difficult opponents, but she soundly defeated Aatami and tied with Bepo, only after both of them became too exhausted to continue. Then she started an informal tournament with all the crew, willing to fight even those with weapons, as long as she could use hers. She had an interesting fight with Akylas, who utilized a pair of daggers, which he he wore like brass knuckles, only with a single, six-inch blade on each hand resting above his middle knuckle.

"It ain't fair you're so huge…" Sage mockingly whined as she squared off with him in the galley, with the majority of the crew watching as they stood against the walls of the room. She wore a pair of faded jeans with her needle holster strapped to her thigh and her yellow crop top over the case of bandages over her middle, with her hair pulled into a high ponytail with a green ribbon.

"That never seemed to stop you before, Sage." He smiled politely, then settled into a light stance. She grinned in reply.

The crew chanted, "Three, two, one, _fight!_" to set them off. They circled, evaluating the other, for a minute or two, and Sage asked,

"You plan on doing any-" And he launched himself towards her, ducking low and swinging his blade at her side. She dropped down and slipped under his arm and to the side, only to find his other hand crossing towards her with blinding speed, surprising for his bulk and size. She pretended to fall to the floor, only to catch herself parallel to the floor with her forearms tucked to her sides and her palms the only part of her connected to the ground. Then she kicked out to the side, away from Akylas, turned her body up and landed on her back, and swung her kick towards his back. He turned to keep his back from her, and she changed her swinging kick into a strong push against his chest, now towards her. He was thrown forward and away, stumbling to keep his footing, while she quickly stood up and rushed him.

He saw her coming and waited until she was only a few feet from him, then jumped to the side, keeping his left hand out to catch her. She curled her body in to keep herself from the sharp blade on his knuckles, but it sliced her above her bellybutton, a few inches long, but the cut wasn't deep. Then he turned to punch her in the back with his other blade, but she followed his body and got under him, then punched him just below the armpit, and his arm dropped numbly like a doll. His lack of feeling in his arm surprised him, which she took advantage of by hooking her foot around his bent knee and pulling him to the ground. As he hit the floor heavily and raised his other useful arm up to protect his face, she grabbed his wrist, pinned it under her knee on his chest, and aimed a strong punch to his face, only to stop it right as she touched his nose.

He froze with surprise at her quick putdown, and the crowd started to cheer at the end of the fight. "I think I win, Akylas." She whispered, and withdrew her arm and got off of him, helping him up with his useful arm.

"I think I agree with you. So how can I get feeling back in my arm?"

"You'll be fine in a few minutes. I just got a pressure point." They shook hands for the battle. "Thanks for the fight. It was interesting; I've never seen those weapons before. What are they?"

"Yeah, thanks. They're Katar daggers. And sorry I cut you."

"S'alright. I've taken a lot worse, as you've seen. Doesn't really hurt much anymore."

"Yeah, I've seen. I've also seen what you give back. And it's even worse."

She laughed. "Of course! You think I won't make them suffer? Never!"

He chuckled and sat down at one of the tables to watch the next match, and Liam joined him to check him over for injuries. Jaxon wanted a go, but nobody really wanted to fight him since he was much younger and smaller than most.

"Aw, come on! Someone give me a round?" He looked around the room, pleading. A small silence followed. "How am I supposed to get better if no one will help me?"

Sage, who stood next to Jack and Liam, spoke up for the little guy. "Hey, Josh, why not be his partner?" She called to him across the room to where he spectated. He blinked, surprised.

"Uh, okay. Sure." He walked into the small ring and met Jaxon in the middle, pulling out a few of his knives.

As they started fighting, Jack leaned down to her and muttered, "You've got him totally whipped, don't you?" She frowned and looked up at him, then raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" She asked innocently, and returned to watching the match, although she knew full well what he meant. He didn't reply, falling silent. While their battle continued, she mulled over what Jack had said.

She watched until their fight was over, Josh pinning Jaxon to the ground with the dull back of a blade to his neck. They closed with a handshake at the clapping of the rest of the crew, and Josh turned to her, smiling.

"Would you honor me with a round?" He asked her, still smiling politely.

"You know you're gonna lose, right?"

"Of course I will." She wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or honest, but she agreed, and stepped out into the ring. The crowd cheered, and she saw Jack watch her with keen interest.

Again, she allowed him to make the first move, like her previous fight. He spun a kunai knife on his finger, then threw it at her, aiming for her stomach. She quickly drew her knife from her holster on her right leg and deflected it, where it stuck in the wall above their crewmates' heads. She knew he wouldn't engage with her in close combat of his own will, so she rushed him with her knife brandished, and tried to feint him by staring at his right shoulder but aiming at his left leg, but he stopped her knife with another of his, and slid it down her blade and twisted it, wrenching it from her grip. As her hand flew away from her body, he swung another small blade at her open side, but she threw her body back and to the floor, landing on her back with her palms flat on the floor above her head. As his body followed his arm over her, she pushed herself off the floor by her hands and wrapped her legs around his waist, then her weight pulled him to the side and onto the ground, where they landed with her knees on either side of his hips. She finished with a punch to the face, which stopped as it touched his nose. "Argh! You win." He conceded.

As she pulled her fist away, she tucked her thumb between her fingers and showed him. "Gotchya nose!" He let his arms fall to the floor tiredly, then laughed at her joke.

"What is going on here?" A deep voice resonated over the chattering in the galley, and the whole room fell silent. She slowly turned to see Law standing in the doorway, looking angry. Nobody in the room replied, and he gazed around the room, glaring. Everyone looked at her, and she sighed.

"Wow, y'alls gonna throw me under the bus now, eh?" She got off Josh and stood up, offering him a hand. When she stood up, he saw the cut on her belly and threw her a rage-filled glare, his gaze demanding an explanation. "Well, we were bored and I thought we could train a little bit? So we were just having some leisure matches…" She sent him a sheepish smile, then added with a raised finger, "Ah, but I'm done for today. I only did two matches, but my head and back hurt so-"

"To the infirmary. Now." He interrupted, still scowling. Her hand dropped and she slipped past him, out towards the medical bay. The silent room watched him. "What are you doing? Continue, get stronger! It's a good idea." He left the room with most of the crewmembers gaping at his decree.

He reached the infirmary to find her standing near the counter against the wall, her bandages previously around her middle in a pile on the counter, and she was cleaning out her cut with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball and tweezers. "Since when did you know how to do that on your own?" He asked, walking in.

"I've been helping out in here for a couple days, you don't think I figured out the basics yet?" She looked up at him while she disposed of the bloody cotton ball, reaching for the antibiotic ointment she had resting on the counter, and rubbed it into the cut. He waited silently until she had it covered with a strip of gauze and tape, since they had no adhesive bandages long enough. He told her to sit down on one of the beds, to which she complied.

"Get your hair out of the way, I need to wrap your head again." He commanded, circling the room to retrieve more binding bandages and the supplies she had just used. She pulled her hair up into a high bun, tucking the final piece of hair into it to secure it. He gently pushed her chin to the side to see her temple, where the mark from the mace blow resided, and cleaned it. She waited patiently for him to finish, and he started to wrap the bandages around her head.


	20. Chapter 20

~~~20~~~

"Listen up, men!" Law stood at the head of the galley to give orders as they reached Shabondy Archipelago. As they all trickled into the room and seated themselves, he spoke: "We've arrived at Shabondy Archipelago. We are currently right next to the Marine Headquarters, so make no trouble. That includes the Celestial Dragons; no matter what they do, don't interfere, whether it be abuse to murder. You raise not a single finger against them. While we're there, you're all free to do what you want, but everyone will meet at the Human Auction in three days on Grove 1. We will leave the sub here, locked. No one will be able to get in, so take whatever you need now. While you're out, get whatever is needed done with your duties. Is that understood?" The crew affirmed, and he dismissed them.

Sage returned to her room and collected her things, which included clothes for the next few days, money for food and a room in a hotel or someplace, and an assortment of weapons, all of which she hid on her person. Then she went up to the deck and enjoyed fresh air for a minute before saying bye to her crewmates and, wandering up to a post with a map of the archipelago on it, decided to head towards the shopping groves. There, she found that a carnival was going on, and enjoyed herself thoroughly throughout the day. She found a lost child missing his mother, and bought him some cotton candy and searched with him for his mother until they were reunited about an hour later. The woman thanked her profusely and tried to pay her for the child's treat and for helping him, but she refused, insisting it made her happy to help. And she wasn't lying; the child was patient, polite, and well-behaved, and it warmed her heart to see the happiness of his mother.

_If the comfort of a mother is what I missed, at least I'll help others keep it,_ she decided, and continued with her day with lifted spirits and a good mood. As she walked with a lollipop in her mouth through the open air market with countless shops, she browsed and bought little trinkets for herself. The one that she was most ecstatic about was a little rectangular locket that opened into three sections.

As she walked, her three brothers crossed her mind, then did a double take and stayed there for hours, and she decided she wanted tattoos to represent them, much like Ace's tribute to Sabo on his upper arm. She asked for the nearest tattoo parlor, and was directed to one by a shopkeeper.

There, she drew up a concept of what she wanted, and added in another tattoo of the Heart Pirates' Jolly Roger to her bill, getting it done on the back of her neck, between her shoulders. Her other one was an artistic, colorful tattoo of a sage plant, with four leaves and four stems of purple flowers, symbolic of the siblinghood her, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy shared, on the belly of her left forearm.

She slept in a decent hotel, and the next day, she adventured some more, ending up in the lawless zone. Multiple bounty hunters came after her head, none of whom walked away from. In the afternoon, she ventured into Shakky's Rip-off Bar, and found the tall woman with short black hair beating the snot out of a broken-nosed man. She waited patiently until she was done, seating herself at the bar.

"Welcome, Whirlwind Sage. How may I help you?" She puffed on a slim cigarette and leaned on the counter on her elbows.

"Hit me with some rum, please, Miss Shakuyaku."

"Sure, but please, call me Shakky. Everyone else does here."

"Okay, Shakky." She slid her drink towards her on the counter. "Thanks. How much? Please, don't rip me off. I'd have to steal a whole bunch more wallets." Shakky laughed.

"It's on me, Sage. Your little brother came in earlier, a few days ago."

"Luffy?! He's here?!" Sage demanded, smiling broadly. Shakky chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, he brought his whole crew. They're all fine; they wanted their ship coated, but Ray-san's not here."

"Are they friends of Rayleigh?" Shakky shook her head. "Oh. Well, that's fine. Maybe I'll find the little Monkey and hang out with them. I haven't seen them for a while. Ah, I'm so happy!" She downed her drink and thanked Shakky, then left, her spirits lifted even higher.

As the sun went down, she entered a large, comfortable tavern somewhere close to her hotel to listen to what people were talking about, and as she sat down, noticed a head of fiery red hair and oddly dressed men. The red hair belonged to Eustass "Captain" Kidd, and the men were his crew, including one with stitch marks around his mouth with gray skin, and an inhumanely tall one with a long black cloak attached to his head and only wore a pair of shorts. Knowing it was Kidd, she looked around for Killer, the other Supernova on his crew, and found him standing in the corner by the bar, a handful of meters from her. She turned her back to them, ordering a soda, but kept her eye on Kidd, in his reflection on a dark wine bottle on a shelf behind the bar. She spent about an hour there, it being already evening, nursing a mug of cheap beer, chatting with the bartender, thinking about her brothers and her new crew, and admiring her new tattoo on her arm, all while watching Kidd, cautious and wary.

All while she spectated his actions, she found he was crass, rude, and stuck-up like most captains she knew, although he had at least some measure of respect for his crew. She also knew that he was also watching her, and saw as he looked a few times at her back, but never met her eye in the reflection on the bottle. Finishing her drinks sometime in the late evening, she got up to leave after paying the bartender well, but Kidd called out to her.

"Hey, Whirlwind Sage!" She spared him a nonchalant glance out of the corner of her eye as she lithely passed, but made no response and did not stop. As she reached the door, she saw in the window reflection that he had gotten up, and heard his footsteps in her direction. She opened the door, but a strong hand grasped her wrist, and she froze and turned slowly, glaring up at the tall redhead from below her lowered brows. In her peripherals she saw Killer had stalked closer to them, and also noted a tiny spark of fear in the gray-skinned blue-haired man's eyes as she stared into Kidd's red ones, intimidating despite her relative shortness and the fact that he hulked largely over her.

She bent her hand to dig her sharp fingernails into Kidd's hand, and he released her wrist. "How may I help you?" she asked with false politeness. Though her smile was nice, her eyes weren't, and if looks could kill, he'd be murdered.

"You know I'm here, and don't even have the decency to come say hello?" He grinned ferally.

"I'm a pirate, Kidd; I'm unbound by propriety." Nearly spitting her words at him, she swept out the door, pretending to turn left before the door closed, then jumped up onto the ledge of the roof and hid on the other side of the slanted roof, listening as he slammed the door open again after her, then went back inside. Smiling at her avoidance of a fight, she swiftly jumped from roof to roof towards her hotel.

At her hotel room, she found she wasn't tired at all, her head buzzing lightly from her drinks like an annoying fly around her. She slipped out of her clothes and slowly sorted her stuff, tucking random things she cleaned out of the bottom of her bag into their proper pockets, and set a knife on the nightstand and the needles beneath her pillow. It now being past midnight and still not tired enough to want to sleep, she took a hot shower and went to bed, trying to sleep.

As she stared up at the unfamiliar blank ceiling, listening to nothing but the thumping of her heart and her quiet breathing, loneliness weighed her heart like lead on her chest. The only two ceilings she had stared up at and felt at home were made of wood and metal, so different from the white-painted drywall ceiling above her now. To ease the heaviness in her heart she silently celebrated her two brothers still being alive, recalling good memories from her past. The last thing she thought about before she slept was Sabo, smiling, happy, cheerful Sabo.

~~~X~~~

"Sage-chan," A familiar voice shook her from sleep. "Sage-chan." She opened her eyes to see a girl with bright red hair and dark blue eyes standing by her bed. Her face was cut and scraped, and she held a blue-handled katana dripping with blood. Two bulletholes in her stomach stared grimly at Sage.

"Brandy... You should be dead." She uttered the phrase with sadness, trailing off.

"Sage-chan." Her voice was ridden with accusation as she stared Sage in the eye, her brows set low in restrained emotion.

"I know, Brandy." Sage bit her lip. "...I know. And I killed you." Uttering the words made it just so real, set in stone, and her guilt threatened to crash over her.

Brandy said nothing more. "And I killed Ryo." A tear slipped over Sage's cheek, as she named each of them, a fresh stab of pain in her heart accompanying it. "And Al, and Saye, and," A stifled cough escaped her throat and her voice shook, "Kat, Abyss, and Nagie, Roark, Lyre, and all of you." As she finished, her named crewmembers and the rest materialized around the bed she sat on, covered with fresh, bleeding wounds and blood-glazed weapons, gazing at her with blank eyes and vacant faces, dead like zombies. She felt the stares of each one of them blazing into her face, their looks carrying nothing but the accusation and declaration of her transgression. "Everyone." She choked on the word, her fingers going numb and her shoulders shaking. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I couldn't save you, I killed you, I'm so sorry…" As she looked into the eyes of each of her crewmembers, guilt slashed through her heart and strangled her chest. She reached out to touch Brandy's arm, like the gesture could erase her sins, but as she did, her skin burned like fire and she disappeared, vaporizing into mist. As she looked around the room, horrified, the rest of them vanished, leaving her alone in the dark. "No, no, no, please, don't go again! Please! I'm so sorry..." She begged, curling up into a ball on the bed with tears streaming, staring with wide eyes into the blackness of the empty room, and listened to the silence, interrupted only by her strangled, thumping heart.


	21. Chapter 21

~~~21~~~

She woke up still in a tight ball, her arms wrapped around her head protectively. Her eyes felt sticky and swollen from crying, and she scrubbed her face with her palms, stretching out her sore muscles in the dim light of early morning. She took a deep breath, trying to forget about her guilt and her crewmembers' accusing faces gazing at her, and stood up slowly and decided to take a shower again since she had been sweating through the night. As she stripped she looked at her reflection in the mirror, taking in her puffy, dark eyes, disheveled curly hair, and tear-streaked cheeks, then turned to see the silvery white scar on her back, contrasting with her tan skin noticeably. She gritted her teeth at the sight of it, despising the mark that represented the deaths of all her friends and crewmates, and branded her the murderer of her closest friends.

~~~X~~~

As she walked through the archipelago towards Grove 1 to meet up with the crew, she forced herself to stand tall with sharp eyes, despite that she felt simply like sitting down and crying.

At the Human Auction House, her lip crinkled with disgust and hate at it as she sat down on a large root at the edge of the clearing the building sat in, waiting for the rest of her crew. Judah and Jaxon came first, joining her on the root, where they waited in comfortable silence. Then Liam, Jack, Josh, and Akylas showed up with Shachi and Penguin on their heels. The more outgoing boys discussed what they did the past few days, but Sage didn't feel like talking, so she sat in the middle of them in silence, staring up at the rising bubbles in the sky. Josh must have noticed, and he sat down next to her, looking worriedly at her upturned face.

"You okay?" He leaned his elbows on his knees, turning his head to see her. She dropped his gaze to meet his.

"Sure. Why?"

"You're a horrible liar, Sage. Tell me, what's wrong?" She scoffed.

"I just had a nightmare, that's all. Don't worry about me."

He was silent for a moment, then leaned back and turned his body to face her. "You remember Judah? You told him he didn't trust us to help him. What are you doing now? If you're hurting, tell someone. And if I can notice it in you of all people, there's something really wrong." She sent him a small smile, and sighed.

"It's just that in my nightmare, my crew came back to see me. And they still had all their wounds that killed them and their weapons. I've been trying to forget." She looked at her intertwined hands in her lap. Josh said nothing for a long moment, then Sage felt him wrap his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to lean on him, and rested his chin on top of her head.

"It's okay. You have us now. Don't worry anymore." Sage's tensed as her head rested in the crook of his shoulder. She froze when Law came over the bridge with Bepo, and he saw them, his brows drawing into a frown and his mouth forming a scowl. Josh noticed her tense, and pulled his arm back, allowing her to sit up straight and run her hand through her hair awkwardly.

As Law passed, he sent her a look she couldn't read, unable to tell what emotions it contained, and he sat down on a crate near the root to wait for the auction to start as the people started arriving. The bidders tended to be dressed quite well, being nobles or rich men, and all were bubbly about buying new slaves. Each and every one she saw, she labelled a heartless bastard, selfish and only caring about their soon-to-be slaves, and she wondered what they would do to the helpless humans they bought like toys or animals. She glared at all of them, and snarled at each one that met her eye, and they almost always flinched and moved away from her, fearful. _Good. Sacks of shit._ She thought.

Soon before the bidding started, Law led them into the large auditorium, where they got last-row seats in the far left of the room. She sat a few feet from Law and next to Josh and Shachi and Penguin.

As the bidding began, the auctioneer Mr. Disco, a flamboyantly dressed, ugly-looking man, opened the "show" with a speech, which she declined to listen to, and presented the first "item". She distracted herself from the auctioning by remembering her crew's faces when they were happy, instead of renewing her visions of them, dead and covered in solidified blood and wounds. She watched the auction with a detached air, trying not to waste her energy focusing on the misery of the slaves and her disgust of the practice itself of slavery.

As Disco brought out the sixth slave of the "show", he announced, "Our next item is a former pirate, captured off the coast of Samily Island on the Grand Line!" The island's name caught her attention, and she immediately recognized it as the last island she visited before attacking the Vice Admiral's ship. She listened hard as Disco continued, and the slave walked quietly and lightly out, her bright red hair reflecting the harsh stage lights. Sage had a thought, but feared to be let down, telling her rampaging brain that it was impossible. _Everyone is dead. _"Weighing one hundred and forty pounds, height of sixty-six inches, she claims a bounty of eighty million beri, and she specializes in fighting with a katana, but you can apply her to tasks requiring high levels of skill and coordination!"

"It can't be…" She muttered with disbelief.

"With a starting bid of 800,000, the pirate, Brandy!" At the mention of her name, the girl looked up, glaring right into the crowd with the most rebellious blue stare Sage had ever seen. But as she scrutinized the girl's face, the more she was sure, and a wave of emotions gripped her, causing her shoulders to shake with, relief, guilt, disbelief, and joy, all at once.

"Law." She gripped his shoulder tightly, steadying herself. "Law, that's someone from my crew." She ripped her gaze from Brandy to him, her look conveying all the emotions she felt to his gray, evaluating, understanding eyes.

Josh placed a hand on her knee. "Sage? Are you okay?"

"Please." Still Law said nothing, watching with calm eyes as the bidding price rose and rose to one and a half million. Still he did nothing, and Sage could hardly believe it. Anger welling in her gut, she swiped at his bidding plate to do it herself, determined to get her crewmate back, but Law held it quickly out of her reach and she glared at him. "What are you doing, you bastard?!"

"Don't waste our money."

_Are you fucking kidding me?!_


	22. Chapter 22

~~~22~~~

_I shouldn't have put any faith in this motherfucker. Sage, you're so stupid!_ With one last raging, disappointed glare at the man, and got up and left, deciding to get Brandy back herself. She heard Josh call her name once, but she didn't turn around or give any indication she heard, walking smoothly out the door. She set her sights on the back door to sneak her out, but she saw a few of Luffy's crew trying to bargain with the guards to get in, but got turned away. She ran into them as they turned away from the guards.

"Nami, Sanji, Chopper!" She called to them.

"Sage-san!" Sanji swooned upon seeing her, and Nami smiled tightly.

"Sage! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm with Trafalgar Law, but I'm kinda mad at him right now. Long story. What are you doing here? And you must be Franky. Sage," She introduced herself. She had seen his wanted poster and read the papers when he had joined their crew.

"Suuuper nice to meet you!" Sage nodded at him politely, and Nami continued.

"Also, these are Hatchan and Pappag. Our friend Caimie has been captured and we need to rescue her, but security's tight because she's a mermaid."

"A mermaid! Jesus, you guys have friends everywhere! How are you going to get her? Actually, I just found out Brandy's alive and she's being sold, so we're in the same boat, I guess."

Nami's face lit up. "Brandy! Oh that's great, I'm so relieved. Okay, we'll get them together! But we're gonna have to buy her. I don't think we can snatch her without them calling an Admiral on us. When is Brandy sold?"

Sage frowned sadly. "She already was. I don't know to who."

"Oh. Okay! We'll have to snag her away! Luffy's gonna be here soon with the Flying Fish brigade. We'll grab her then with Caimie."

"Ah. I was just about to ask." They went back inside, Sage introducing herself to the tall blue-skinned fishman and the walking starfish who accompanied them, and they waited until Caimie was produced. She was dramatically presented in a big fishbowl, her face a picture of fear and her neck and wrists chained heavily. Nami told her they had 200 million to buy her with, and they waited until they could bid above everyone. The bidding price immediately rose to an exorbitant amount, only to be utterly beaten by a Celestial Dragon's yell of five hundred million beri. The only sound she heard after his decree was Nami's plate hitting the concrete floor in shock.

Just before the hammer came down to seal the deal, a loud explosion came from the ceiling above the stage, sending drywall and splinters everywhere in a cloud of debris, and from it came a handful of Flying Fish. "Caimie!" She heard a yell from the first Flying Fish, and immediately recognized it as her brother Luffy, who jumped off, looking wildly around and repeating the mermaid's name. He saw the mermaid in the glass bowl on the stage, and started running down the carpeted stairs. Before he got halfway there, Hatchan ran after him and grabbed Luffy's arm, but ended up getting dragged down the stairs with him. In his desperation, the fishman burst open his jacket and pulled on Luffy with all six of his arms, sending a wave of terrified gasps through the crowd.

"A fishman!?"

"Someone shoot it!"

"Get it away!" In his surprise, the fishman let go of Luffy, who continued down the stairs running. Sage heard the click of a gun cocking, and immediately looked to the ugly Celestial Dragon who bid 500 million for Caimie, and opened her mouth soundlessly in shock just before he pulled the trigger and the fishman fell down the stairs, pooling blood around him. She gritted her teeth at the sight; there was no reason he was shot other than the fact that he was a fishman.

The gunshot reverberated around the large auditorium, silencing everyone and freezing Luffy in his tracks. He turned to see the fishman fall down the stairs, scattering blood everywhere, and set his sights on the Celestial Dragon jumping around, bragging that he shot an octopus. Luffy started up the stairs, clenching his fists and glaring daggers at him, but as he passed the fishman, he grabbed his arm, stopping him. The fishman spoke weakly to Luffy, and while she could only hear broken bits of his words, she knew he was begging Luffy to leave the Celestial Dragon alone. In response, Luffy only knelt and gently placed the fishman's hand on his chest, then stood and walked up the stairs towards the bubble-headed ugly man looking down at him.

The glare Luffy sent at the Celestial Dragon sent shudders down her back; she had seen him so angry only a few times in her life. He walked smoothly up the stairs towards the Celestial Dragon, who glared right back at him. As he neared, Sage saw his fist curl tightly, which didn't surprise her. "Go, Luffy." Nami muttered under her breath.

Her little brother raised his arm, and with a guttural yell, slammed it into the Celestial Dragon's face, sending him rocketing back into the stairs, out cold.

As the audience of civilians erupted into screams and started pouring out the doors to escape, Sage saw the other Celestial Dragon approach Camie's tank, the top of which was sliced off diagonally. She immediately took off in a sprint as the woman drew a pistol and cocked it by her side, climbing up the stage.

Just before the woman pulled the trigger to kill the mermaid, she screamed, two needles embedding themselves in her inner wrist, and she dropped her gun. A moment later, Sage's boot hit the back of her head, sending her face to the floor where she stayed, unconscious. She swiftly pulled her needles from the woman's wrist, sent a thumbs-up to the mermaid, who stared at her in shock, and ran backstage, looking for Brandy and the keys to the slaves' collars and handcuffs.

She quickly knocked out the guards and jacked the keys off of one, then opened the doors of both of the two cells along the walls. The slaves cheered, and she tossed them the ring of keys to their collars and handcuffs, keeping a set for herself as she searched through the throng of newly-freed slaves until she found a head of red hair.

"Brandy!"

"Sage-chan!" It took a moment for her best friend to find her and meet her eyes, but she responded immediately to her voice. Her face lit up with elation and relief when they locked eyes.

"Oh thank God, I've got you." She pulled the redhead into a tight hug, silently rejoicing with all her heart that they were reunited.

"But, Captain, I've been sold already."

"I don't care. I'm taking you, and we have to go now. Are you alright?" Only then, as they exited the cell, did Sage look her over and see her thin frame even more narrow than she remembered, and her straight hair had lost its bright shine.

"Yes, but I need my sword. They still have it in the closet. Over there." She indicated it by the back door, a large metal locker bolted closed. Sage picked it open quickly with her knife tip and a needle, and handed Brandy her blue-handled katana. She hugged it close, and Sage led her out to the stage. Finding the auditorium empty, they went outside, stepping over the bodies of the guards lying on the floor and stairs.

Brandy squinted in the bright, blinding light of the sun as they exited. Immediately Sage's eyes searched for the crew, but she shook the thought away, setting her sights on getting Brandy away. "Here, get on my back. We gotta go." Brandy obeyed, and Sage ran as fast as she could away from the fighting.

"Sage-chan, why are people calling your name?"

"It's a long story." She said nothing until they reached the hotel Sage stayed at the previous nights, and she led Brandy to the room she rented.

The redhead sat on her bed, leaning her sword against the nightstand, and curiously looked up at her while she leaned on the wall by the bathroom to catch her breath. "So, that story? I have time, and plenty of it, I think."

"I know, but that can wait until you get clean and fed. You're not wounded or anything?"

"No. They patched me up for the auction."

"Okay. Why don't you go take a shower, and I'll get you some food. Then I'll talk. Oh, I'm so happy you're okay." Her eyes started watering, but she suppressed it and just gave Brandy a tight hug.

"I am too, Sage-chan. I'm glad you found me." Then she went into the bathroom to shower, and Sage set out some clothes for her. As she left to get food, she wondered, _Do I go back? And how?_ She knew they wouldn't be leaving Shabondy for at least a few more days; Law was in no hurry to go to the New World until they were stronger. She decided to think about it later, and stepped outside the hotel to go to the restaurant across the street.

Newspapers were falling everywhere, and as Sage grabbed one, she heard multitudes of people chattering worriedly, and she unrolled it. Her eyes widened in shock as she read the front page.

In one week, her brother was going to be executed.


	23. Chapter 23

~~~23~~~

_There will be a war. The Navy is inciting a war with Whitebeard!_ Trying to process the news, she absentmindedly got the food and returned to the room, throwing the paper on the bed. Brandy came out of the shower, dressed in Sage's clothes that were a little too large, and sent her a worried look when she saw Sage sitting on the bed with her head in her hands.

"Sage-chan? Are you alright?"

"The paper," Sage only muttered, and the redhead picked it up and read it. Then she sat down next to her and supportingly put an arm around Sage, allowing her to rest her weight on her.

After she had recollected herself, Sage stood up and set out the food, then pulled out Ace's Vivre Card from her pocket. It was sound and whole, which gave her a little relief, and as Brandy ate, she started to talk. She recounted her time from when the crew was killed to how she ended up on the Hearts' submarine, to how Law had refused to buy Brandy and how she had left in anger. The redhead listened intently the whole time, finishing her food and settling comfortably against the headboard of the bed.

"So that's why they were calling your name when we left." Sage nodded. "But maybe Trafalgar knew we weren't going to leave peacefully, and didn't want to waste time on it?"

"How could he know that? We weren't there to cause any trouble or to buy anyone, but he refused, even when I begged him and he knew you were my crewmate. It's not like you'll be useless; you've got a high bounty and he needs strong fighters, that I know."

"I don't know, Sage-chan. I don't know him to be able to decipher his decisions. Did he treat you well on the crew?"

"Yeah, and I like the rest of the crew a lot."

"Do you like _him?_"

Sage paused. "I don't know anymore. I thought I did, but I feel stupid for putting my faith in him."

Brandy also stopped in thought for a moment. "Perhaps he had another motive not to. Don't doubt yourself so quickly; You don't trust the wrong kind of people easily."

Sage sighed. "I hope you're right. Jesus, you're so positive, it's almost sickening," She joked. Brandy chuckled in response.

~~~X~~~

The next day, after they got a long sleep, Sage tried calling the Straw Hats, but no one picked up the Mushi, making her worry. She took Brandy to Shakky to see if the woman knew anything about it. When they arrived, Sage was shocked to see the Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma standing outside the bar, speaking with Shakky and Rayleigh, whom she had seen briefly at the Human Auction. She worriedly caught the attention of Shakky, who waved her over. She cautiously approached from the side of the hulking Shichibukai, Brandy following her closely.

"Kuma," she addressed the huge man.

"Whirlwind Sage. And Blood-Red Brandy."

"Sage-chan, Kuma-kun is here peacefully. He's not here to capture anyone," Shakky assured her, and Rayleigh smiled at her; Sage relaxed a little, but still kept her distance.

"I do not have much time left. Please understand. Thank you." And the bear-man left, giving Sage a small, seemingly sad nod as he departed.

They all went inside and Sage asked them, "Do you know where Luffy and his crew are? Are they okay?"

Shakky looked to Rayleigh to explain, which he did. "They won't be seen for a while, I'm afraid." Sage froze in fear, too scared to even inquire more. "Yesterday Kuma engaged them and sent them to different islands across the Grand Line."

Before he continued, she demanded again, "Are they okay?!"

Rayleigh huffed. "Yes, they are fine. Admiral Aokiji was present, so Kuma sent them away under the guise that he killed them."

"Why would he do that?"

"He told me before he sent them that he works for the Revolutionary Army, and wanted to help them get away."

"He saved their lives," Sage breathed in amazement, and Rayleigh nodded in confirmation. Shakky slid her a drink over the counter, which Sage accepted thankfully. "What about Ace? Is the Navy crazy? They're trying to start a war with Whitebeard."

"I assume they're trying to take down Whitebeard to try to end the Great Pirate Era," Brandy interjected.

"Well, there haven't been many Marines around lately, although we're right next to the HQ. I thought that was suspicious, but I didn't think they were gonna do something like this." There was a moment of silence, then: "I need to go save Ace."

Shakky and Rayleigh chuckled, and Brandy set her jaw determinedly. "Of course."

"Well, you can count on Luffy being there. I believe Kuma sent him to Amazon Lily, where the Shichibukai Boa Hancock is. Somehow he'll get himself to Ace."

"But Amazon Lily… Aren't men absolutely banned there?" Brandy asked.

"He'll find a way. I know he will." Sage stated. "Thanks so much, Shakky, Rayleigh. Do you know where the Thousand Sunny is? I want to leave them a note for whenever they return."

"Parked at the docking groves, where everything else is. I'll take care of their ship while they're gone, so you go do that." Rayleigh informed her.

Brandy and Sage stood up, Sage paying for her drink, and they left. "Thanks so much! Bye!"

They walked across the archipelago, Sage trying to formulate a plan to rescue Ace. "He's being kept in Impel Down, so I can't do anything until he's taken for the execution itself," she said out loud, then addressed Brandy: "I want you to stay here while I go get him."

"What?! I'm not leaving you again!"

"Brandy, please. I can't lose you. Please just wait here, where you'll be safe. I couldn't take it if I lost you again."

"I know, but I can't let you go into the war alone!"

"Yes, you can. For me, please. You aren't even fit for battle right now. I need you to get healthy again, and I'll find you afterwards. Maybe we'll go join Ace with the Whitebeard Pirates, I don't know right now. But I need you to stay safe, for me, please."

Brandy bit her lip ruminatively. "Fine. I hate to let you go alone, though, and you know it."

"I know." She smiled weakly, and they started towards the docking groves.

Soon they arrived, and walked up the docks, searching for the big orange lion ship of the Straw Hats', eventually finding it with its sails drawn in and tied down at the last dock. Jumping up onto the deck, she helped Brandy up as well, then picked the lock into the kitchen.

"Wow, Franky did an incredible job," Sage commented as they looked around the ship.

"Is he their shipwright?" Brandy asked, sharing in her awe.

"Yeah, I met him yesterday. But damn, this is such a pretty ship." She let herself into the kitchen, still admiring the architecture of the ship, and dug around, finding paper and a pen and writing a note to the Straw Hats:

_Hey guys, Sage here. I'm visiting right after the Human Auction incident, and I just heard that each of you were sent away by Kuma. I don't know if you're aware, but he saved your lives; he works for the Revolutionary Army, but soon he will be converted completely into a cyborg and will no longer have free will._

_I hope that all of you are safe. I don't know when you'll read this, though. Soon I will depart to Marineford to rescue Ace, and I really hope we're successful. I believe the Navy is going to reveal our true identities, making it all the more dangerous. At least for now his Vivre Card is intact…_

_I've gotten my own personal Baby Mushi, so when you return, please call me at this number below. I'll see you in the New World!_

_By the way, this is a magnificent ship. I hope you don't mind that I took a look around. _

_Best wishes, _

_Gol D. Sage_


	24. Chapter 24

~~~24~~~

The next three days passed excruciatingly slow. Sage divided her time between helping Brandy regain her strength and training her own, trying to prepare as well as she could for the war, forcing herself to master a technique she had been working on as well. The whole archipelago was continuously abuzz with impatience for the war, which everyone had assumed would take place; no way would Whitebeard do nothing while his second-division commander was executed, but no one seemed to know who they wanted to win the war.

In preparation for battle, Sage paid a steep price to a small fishing crew to sail her to the Marine HQ the day of the execution. It took her an hour of haggling to convince the scared civilians to take her, for they feared they would be taken for allies of the pirates, but eventually, she won them over with her willingness to pay enough to cover their entire month's paycheck. Then, the next two days she pickpocketed around the clock to pay them.

The morning the day before the execution, she read in the paper that Luffy had infiltrated Impel Down, and after a moment's surprise, she smiled. It was just like Luffy to do something so stupid and rash. _Just stay safe, okay, Monkey?_ She desperately wished he would have a little more caution, but it couldn't be helped. _Hancock must have helped him get in,_ she deduced, and decided to thank the Pirate Empress later if she saw her at the war.

The day of the execution, Sage went with Brandy to the center of the archipelago, where three huge screens were set up to broadcast the execution live. She knew the whole world was watching, and she feared that the Marines had found out the secret she and Ace shared and that they would announce it. As the broadcast went live, she had to force her racing heart to calm as she saw her brother kneeling on the execution platform. She gritted her teeth at the sight of the once-proud Fire Fist Ace defeated at the hands of the Marines, his shoulders hunched tiredly. His hair was messy, his eyes cast to the ground before him, his knife, bracelets, hat, and boots all absent from him, covered in scrapes and bruises.

She hugged Brandy goodbye, and as she walked towards the docks to meet her ride to the HQ, she looked back at her former first mate standing tall at the edge of the crowd, her straight red hair tumbling down her back with her blue-handled katana at her hip. Trying not to remember the last time they got separated, she set her sights ahead and started running towards the docks, patting her sides to make sure the cash she was to pay the fishing crew with was on her.

_Three hours. I have three hours to save him._ She stood at the head of the fishing boat, looking tensely over the sea towards the Marine Headquarters as she waited to arrive at the site of the turn of the era.


	25. Chapter 25

~~~25~~~

As the Marine HQ came into sight, so did a whole fleet of Whitebeard's allies. The fishing crew balked at the size and number of pirate battleships gathered outside the HQ, but Sage asked them to take her to the closest one, whose flag displayed a red, horned skull with OARS III written below. She knew the captain was a good friend of Ace's, and called up to the men standing on its deck, getting their attention. They called over their captain, Little Oars Jr., and he leaned over the side, his hulking giant body immensely overshadowing the tiny fishing boat she stood on. The fishing crew quailed in fear and huddled against the far side of the tiny raft, but she stood tall, addressing the giant.

"Oars Junior! May I board your ship?"

"Who are you?"

"I believe my brother gave you your hat!" The giant's intimidating look transformed to one of recognition and delight.

"Ah! Men, throw down a ladder! Let her board!" His crew let down a narrow rope ladder, which she stepped onto and began to climb, thanking the fishing crew. They watched her in awe, then collected their wits about them and immediately turned and sailed away.

She climbed onto the deck, surrounded by men with fake fanged jaws and long, spiky, orange wigs to mimic their captain's appearance. "Thanks!" The giant placed a hand on the deck for her to step on, and he lifted her to stand on his shoulder so he could speak with her.

"Oh no, I am eternally thankful for your brother and his friendship! Of course it extends to his sister!"

Sage smiled at his gratefulness, and sat down on his muscled shoulder to rest before the upcoming battle. "Where is the old man, do you know?" She asked him curiously, starting to tightly weave her hair into a braid down her back to get it out of her face.

"The Moby Dick and the command ships are coated; they're going to ascend right in the middle of the HQ's bay." She let out a sound of wonder.

"Wow, Ray-san works quickly."

"He does indeed," the giant laughed.

"So we just wait, for now?"

"The doors will open soon, and the war will start. Commander Whitebeard will show soon, I believe."

"Ah." Her attention returned to the huge wall surrounding the HQ as she heard a loud announcement ring out. She recognized the voice as Admiral Sengoku's, and she froze in fear as she knew what he was going to say. Closing her eyes tightly as if preparing to take a blow, she listened hard as Sengoku asked Ace who his father was, to which he replied that it was Whitebeard.

"He is not!"

"Yes he is! Whitebeard is my only father! I have no other!"

Sengoku overrode him and continued. "Back then, we searched as if our lives depended on it. Based on nothing but the tiniest of leads from Cipher Pol...We investigated all newborn children, all children who were to be born, and all their mothers, but ultimately found nothing. Or so we thought… Out of pure obstinacy, your mother had risked her life...to perform a certain trick regarding your birth. And it was this trick that deceived our eyes; In the South Blue, there lies an island named Baterilla. And out of devotion for her child, she bore him in her womb for a full twenty months! And when the birth finally came, her strength all but spent, she left this world as you entered it. One year and three months from the father's death, a child was born bearing the most accursed blood to be found in this world. That child is you. Do not claim you are not aware…"

The silence was deafening, and only Sage and Ace knew what Sengoku's next words would be. "Your father is none other than Pirate King, Gold Roger!"

A second of utter shock, then a wave of uproar swept over all those present. She desperately hoped that none would turn on them now that Ace's bloodline was known; when they were younger Ace had often been tormented that if people knew Gold Roger had children, they would be incarcerated or killed at the drop of a hat, and Sage knew that people might be swayed to condemn him instead of trying to save him simply at that fact. She felt both relieved and guilty that the Marines had not discovered they were twins, or else she also would be kneeling beside him, but she hated the fact that her brother still protected her by not letting them know they were siblings and that they did not share the same fate.

Sengoku kept talking, but she no longer listened. She caught snippets of how Ace's death would symbolize the end of the era, but at the very end of his speech, the Gates of Justice began to open, and Sage heard commotion from within the plaza. She guessed the Marines hadn't done that willingly, and chuckled joylessly. The forty-odd ships gathered outside the HQ began sailing forward, out of the fog, and the chaos in the plaza increased in volume as the foot soldiers of the Marines began to panic. A few minutes passed as the ships advanced further, nearing the bay, and suddenly a bubble rose up from beneath the surface of the water inside Marineford.

The Moby Dick and three other main warships emerged from below the water, their coating bubbles bursting, and after a few moments, Whitebeard himself stood tall on the deck of the Moby Dick. "My son better be fine, Sengoku! Gurarara!"

Sage tapped Oars Jr. urgently. "Oars, can you please get me to Whitebeard? I need to talk to him." The giant nodded and gave the command to his men, and when they neared, he picked her up and set her gently on the deck of the Moby Dick. She thanked him and turned to Marco, who approached at her arrival. "Hey, Marco."

"Sage. You made it."

"Of course! Pretty sure Luffy will be here too, soon."

The division commander chuckled. "Your family is insane, I swear."

"You're telling me?" They shared a brief laugh, then Sage turned to Whitebeard and jumped up on the deck beside him, sending a greeting glance to Vista, who walked up behind Marco and had just noticed her arrival. "Hey, Uncle!"

"Here to help me retrieve your brother, squirt?" The Pirate King tilted his head down to see her, a small smile spreading across his face at the sight of her. She had never met him in person, but she had spoken with him over the Den Den Mushi multiple times, and she called him Uncle in respect to Ace's calling him Father.

"Definitely!" Then Whitebeard turn his attention to Ace on the scaffold, and called out to him.

"Ace! Are you alright?"

"Oyaji! I'm sorry! I should have listened to you and not gone after Teach!"

"No, my son, I'm sorry for telling you to get him back."

"What are you talking about?!" Whitebeard seemed to be finished talking, so Sage called out to him.

"Hey, Ace!"

"Sage! Why are you here?! Don't put yourself in danger!"

"I'm your sister! I won't let you die!" another wave of surprise swept through those gathered, but she stood tall, refusing to cast off the truth for her own safety anymore. _It's time for me to live up to our name. If my brother dies because of who we are, so will I._

"No, you shouldn't have said that..." He trailed off and dropped his head to the scaffold he knelt on, and she knew he was pushing back tears. She desperately wanted to hug him, reassure him that she would be there through everything, although he knew that already.

She looked up to see two walls of water, caused by Whitebeard's Devil Fruit, looming dangerously over the concrete of the HQ, but an instant later, it was all frozen solid by Aokiji's powers. As the Admiral and the Yonko clashed, Aokiji was broken into shards of ice and reformed, freezing the entire surface of the bay in the process. The advance of the ships in the bay was stopped, but the pirates onboard those ships jumped down and ran over the ice towards the Marines. Sage quickly dropped down to the ice to join the fray, almost falling on the slippery ice, but she took advantage of it, digging her knife into the ice and pushing off of it to slide along the surface, stabbing Marines as she weaved through them. When she lost her momentum, she jumped up and shoved at a Marine to get moving again, twisting in and out of knots of men while swiftly dispatching dozens of Marines.

Between skirmishes with the small fry, Sage observed that the Vice Admirals and even the Admirals and Shichibukai had been roused from their positions overlooking the battlefield, and she saw the more powerful Marines scattered around the bay. Soon, the other battleships from outside the Gates of Justice had sailed close to the frozen bay, and Oars Jr. stepped into the plaza, throwing huge numbers of Marines out of his way with single swipes of his huge arms.

In response to Oars Jr., who was more than twice as large as any Giant, Vice Admiral John Giant sent his Giant Squad to repel him. Suppressing her desire for revenge for her crew and pushing the Vice Admiral out of her mind, she ran towards Oars and climbed up his leg, then up his long, unkempt orange hair to his shoulder.

"Let me watch your back, Oars!" She yelled to him over the din of the fighting.

"Sure!" She clung to a strand of his hair near her to keep her balance, taking a moment to rest from the fighting while watching over the giant's shoulder. Impressed, she saw that he was carving a path through the Marines towards Ace, allowing pirates to break through the defenses of the Marines. She stumbled when Oars rammed another giant with his huge curled horns, and spectated in awe while he beat down nearly the entire Giant Squad.

As Oars continued his rampage towards the scaffold, she saw Bartholomew Kuma approaching quickly from their 3 o'clock, and screamed for Oars to dodge as the huge bear-man prepared an attack from his open palm. The hulking giant didn't have time to get out of the way, but he immediately pushed her off his shoulder, throwing her out into the open air. She panicked, falling from such a large height, but she saw the only unfrozen part of the bay and aimed to land in it, hitting the water feet-first. The cold water stole her breath away as she immediately sank deeper than she would have liked, and she kicked as hard as she could towards the surface. As she finally broke the surface, gasping, she looked up to see a Marine battleship falling from the sky, and heard the all-too-familiar yell of her little brother.

She clambered out of the water just as the ship hit it, throwing its inhabitants everywhere. Luffy bounced off the deck and onto the ice, seeing her. "Luffy! You're here!" Sage had only a few moments to look him over, taken aback with the amount of damage his body had taken, and wondered how he was still alive; he was covered in wounds, his hair was a mess, and the circles under his huge eyes were darker than Law's after a bad night. She wasn't sure if he had noticed, but all his muscles were shaking and a vein throbbed in his neck and forehead that she knew normally weren't visible.

"Sis! Oh good! Where's Ace?!" Sage immediately pointed to the scaffold, where Ace knelt with Garp standing beside him.

"ACE!" Luffy hollered, louder than the entire battlefield, and their brother looked up at them.

"Luffy!" Luffy's face split in a huge smile, and he started running towards him, only to stop dead in his tracks. From where she stood on the ice, Sage saw the former Shichibukai Crocodile aiming an attack to Whitebeard, which Luffy blocked, much to the man's confusion.

"Our agreement is fulfilled. Why are you protecting him?"

"Ace likes this old man!" Crocodile took a moment to realize that Luffy was wet from the landing and withdrew, a group of Whitebeard Pirates holding him back.

Whitebeard looked down at Luffy curiously. "Hey squirt, is that Red-Hair's hat?"

"Old man, you know Shanks? He gave it to me."

"Are you here to rescue your brother?"

"Yeah!"

Whitebeard's face curled into a frown of anger. "Do you know who you're messing with? A squirt like you will be dead meat!" He pounded his spear against the Moby Dick once, his loud voice ringing out across the battlefield and attracting the attention of many who fought.

Her breath held, Sage waited for Luffy to reply, expecting something disrespectful and dangerous to say. Then: "Shut up! That's not for you to decide! I know what you're up to; you want to be King of the Pirates, but it's ME who will be the Pirate King!"

"Oh my god, Luffy, you dumbass." Sage muttered to herself, while the rest of the onlookers were absolutely dumbfounded, everyone recoiling in shock. For a handful of tense moments, the two glared at each other, both refusing to back down, until Whitebeard spun his spear around and pounded it once more, a grin splitting his face.

"How saucy you are! I won't forgive you if you cause me trouble, spoiled brat!"

"I don't care! I'm gonna rescue Ace!" Luffy turned from Whitebeard and settled into a low stance, setting his fist against the deck.

"You're competing against Whitebeard, Luffy? Really?" Sage sighed, then smiled to Marco, who stood a little ways away, and they both shook their heads in shared exasperation.

"Old man, I heard on the Marine ship that they're gonna execute Ace immediately."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, they said they would do it after getting 'all set' for something, but they were talking in code so I couldn't understand."

"I see. Thank you."

"No problem. Okay, Ace, I'm coming now!" With a yell, Luffy jumped off the deck of the Moby Dick, and Sage joined him, running in stride with her brother, and they fought back-to-back through the tides of fighting. They broke free from the main battle, running towards the scaffold, but Kizaru formed in front of them and raised a leg to send them an attack, but just as he did, Sage heard Ivankov yell,

"Death...Wink!" She and Luffy were thrown out of the way from Kizaru's attack, Sage landing on Luffy to cushion the blow.

"Thanks, Iva-chan!" Luffy yelled to the okama, then they ran again, but another light beam sparked in the distance.

"Kizaru again? No, Kuma!" Ivankov jumped to dodge the laser, in seeming disbelief.

"Iva-chan!"

"Go! Let me handle this!"

"Okay!" Sage pulled him along, heading to the platform again, but stopped short as Hina stood before them, and Luffy let out a frustrated sound at being halted again.

"I have no time to play with you people right now!"

"I won't let you get away! Kimono Sleeve Cage!" She threw her arms out, dark metal bars extending from her hands.

"Agh, I'm sick of being behind bars! Second Gear!" He settled into his low stance again, fist braced on the ground. "Sis, you good?" She nodded, and as the cage closed in on them, Luffy flashed out of it.

Just behind him, Sage muttered, "Soru!" and joined him past the woman standing in their way. They launched into the next knot of fighting, Sage losing herself in the battle until she heard her twin's voice yelling out above the noise.

"Stay away, you two! We're pirates, you know that! I have my own adventures, my own friends! I want you to keep your hands off of them! You two wimps, thinking you can save me?! You think I'll let you do that! It's so humiliating!"

"Ace!" Sage screamed at him.

"Go back, you idiots! Stay away! I don't want you to share my fate…This is all my fault!"

"Ace, I don't care!" She yelled back. Then, as one, Luffy and Sage shouted:

"I'm your brother!"

"I'm your sister!"


	26. Chapter 26

~~~26~~~

Ace's shoulders shook and he said nothing in reply, only helplessly watching the war unfold. Sage was jolted out of her focus by the loud grating of concrete on metal, and realized the Marines were trying to raise walls around the bay, to trap Whitebeard and the pirates within inside of Marineford. "Luffy! Be careful! The Marines are trying to trap us all in here!"

He gave a quick look around, and Sage realized that the barely-alive body of Oars Jr. was lying on top of a section of the wall, his blood and immense weight preventing them from being raised. Sad that he had fallen, Sage silently thanked him for his determination to save her brother, and kept running. An okama wielding a huge pair of scissors appeared beside them with Ivankov, and the okama cut a long strip of the concrete out of the ground, throwing it up to the scaffold as a ramp to their brother. She and Luffy yelled a grateful thanks to him, then ran up the path. When they were halfway up to the platform, Sage realized that their grandpa Garp stood braced on the concrete before them.

"Pops! Move aside!" Luffy hollered.

"I'm the Vice Admiral of the Marine Headquarters! I won't move!"

"Gramps! Please, none of us want to do this!" Sage yelled at him.

"This is the path you three have chosen! You are now my enemy!"

"I can't, Pops!"

"Then Ace will die!" Sage knew, without a doubt, that Luffy would do anything to save their brother, and a heartbeat later, their fists met in their grandpa's face.

Another heartbeat later they stood before their brother as he knelt on the platform he was slated to die on.

~~~X~~~

His breathing labored, Luffy produced a key from his pocket, the one for his brother's handcuffs, only for it to be shot through with a beam of light. It crumbled in his hands, and Sage looked up to see Sengoku enlarged into a huge golden statue. He sent a punch down at them, but Luffy blew up into a balloon, deflecting him. Just before they were crushed beneath Luffy, a white, liquidy wall encased them and hardened, stopping him. The scaffold shifted, and Sage realized that the platform was collapsing under the weight of Sengoku's punch, and she grabbed Ace by the shoulders, clinging tight to her twin protectively as, simultaneously, former "Mister 3" of Baroque Works created another key, and the Marines rained fire on the platform. The scaffold fell and exploded, but Ace grabbed Luffy by his vest and they fell together through the tunnel of fire he made in the smoke. "Agh, you two are always like this, never listening to me!"

Sage grinned at him, her face spreading into the biggest smile she showed since her crew died. "What did you expect, Ace?"

"Nothing less, of course, Sis!" She laughed. They landed on the plaza, surrounded by Marines, who immediately shot countless bullets at them. Sage dodged each one with Soru, but her two brothers didn't need to; the bullets passed harmlessly through Ace and bounced back through Luffy to hit their owners.

"Hiken!"

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun!"

Each of them launched themselves back into the battle, their backs protected by the other two, their moves flowing and coordinated. Sage was lost in the fighting until she heard Whitebeard's voice rumble over the battlefield like thunder, capturing the attention of all the participants. "Listen up, men! This is my final order as the head of the Whitebeard Pirates!" Immediately, protests arose from his crew. He overrode them: "This is where you and I split up! Stay alive at all costs! Return to the New World in one piece! I am a remnant of my era; there ain't no ship that's going to carry me out to the new one…"

Sage looked to Ace, who stood stock-still on the battlefield. Then, he erupted into flames. "Get lost, all of you!" He exploded and wiped away everyone from him to Whitebeard, and knelt with his head on the ground before him.

"No need to say anything, Ace. Just answer my one question; Have I been a good father?" His face showed all the love and care for a child that Sage imagined a parent would have, and it warmed her heart that her brother had been blessed to have a father.

"Of course!" Ace yelled up at him. Sage grabbed him by the shoulder and wrenched him from the ground, pulling him along as Jinbei and Luffy pushed them forwards towards the ships, away from Whitebeard.

"You guys are being targeted! Head towards the ships; Whitebeard wanted you all to live past this!" Jinbei rumbled over the chaos of the war.

Sage saw Akainu bathe the battlefield in red behind them, and she heard him start to speak. "Running away as soon as they grabbed Ace… Such cowards. After all, Whitebeard is just a failure of the previous era!"

Ace stopped in his tracks, his hair concealing his eyes from her. His shoulders shook with rage and he turned to glare at Akainu. "Take that back!"

~~~X~~~

"Whitebeard is only a failure, choosing to die instead of living on into the new era. How fitting for the general of a bunch of scum of the sea."

"This era is named 'Whitebeard'! Don't insult our savior!" Ace jumped at the Admiral, but fell back, clutching at his chest.

"Ace...has been burned?!"

"You got careless that we're both Logias. You may be fire, but I am lava. I am superior; lava burns even fire!" Luffy tried getting to his feet, reaching for Ace's Vivre Card on the ground in front of him, and Sage was at his side with Jinbei in a second. She saw that the card was still burning away, only a fraction of it left. "You think that I'll let you and Strawhat get away?! With your forbidden blood, I have to eradicate the both of you!"

Sage's eyes widened as Akainu appeared before them, staring down Luffy, and she threw herself over her little brother without a moment's hesitation, hugging his shoulders tightly as he stared over her shoulder with horror in his eyes.


	27. Chapter 27

~~~27~~~

The blow she had expected never landed, and after a single second, she slowly turned and followed Luffy's terrified gaze. There stood Ace, with Akainu's lava fist protruding from his chest. Next to her, she felt Luffy shaking uncontrollably, and Ace coughed, blood landing on the ground before them and on their faces. Luffy flinched, but Sage was frozen, almost unable to process what had happened, but at that moment, she knew they had failed.

_No... _

She saw as Akainu withdrew his punch, allowing Ace to fall forward into their arms, a gaping hole in his chest. The rest of the world ceased, her only attention on Ace. "I'm sorry, Luffy, Sage. I'm sorry you couldn't save me properly… Forgive me."

Sage said nothing, kneeling behind Luffy, who held their brother up, and stared at her twin with dead eyes. Luffy rebelled; "No, what are you talking about? You'll be fine! You're gonna live!" A doctor ran up to them, took one look at his wounds, and lowered his eyes solemnly. Sage simply waved him away, knowing that he couldn't be saved. "Ace...You promised! You said you wouldn't die!"

Tears fell freely down Sage's face now, and she felt like Akainu had punched a hole in her heart too. _Everything we've done,_ she thought resignedly, seeing her little brother trying to deny the inevitable, seeing her big brother accepting his death at only twenty years old. _Ace… What am I going to do without you? Don't make Luffy sad..._ She wept silently, as Ace spoke to Luffy alone, trying to calm him down.

"Sis?" Sage met her brother's eyes, the image of his face clear in her eyes through the thick film of tears she saw through. She moved to hug him, both Luffy and Ace, squeezing them tightly as though she could keep them safe. She felt hot blood pouring out of her brother's back, running over her arm and onto the ground. Luffy's body shook violently, and Sage pulled Ace to her, taking his weight off of their little brother. He slumped against her.

"Have you been happy?" She asked softly, resting her chin on his shoulder.

His eyes gave her all the love she knew they shared as he nodded gently. "I want you to keep living, and watch over Luffy for me, please. I'm so sorry you've had to go through so much, and I regret that I didn't help you when you needed me. That is the second of my only two regrets." His voice choked for a moment, and he met her eyes, crying, his jaw shaking. "Please, tell the boys, Luffy, Old Man…" He paused, looking at the ground. "Even though I've been good for nothing my whole life, even though I have the blood of a demon in me… You guys still loved me...Thank you so much!"

His grimacing mouth curled into a soft smile, and he slid down in her arms, resting his head on her lap. She remembered their childhood, sitting just like that as they wasted time in their early years. Just before his eyes closed, she whispered, "Thank you, Ace. Say hi to Sabo for me. I love you."

Luffy stared at his body on the ground, and only then did he seem to understand that he was gone. He looked at Sage, and her heart broke at the pain and sadness in his eyes, only augmenting her own hurt. "Luffy…" He screamed into the sky blankly, emptily lamenting their loss, but she just cried silently.

~~~X~~~

She became aware again when Jinbei pulled them under his arm, running towards the ships. Whitebeard sent a huge quake through the air, crumbling the HQ and completely splitting the plaza in two, separating the pirates from the Marines. "Luffy-kun! You must stay alive! You must stay strong!"

"Jinbei!" Sage screamed, seeing Akainu behind them, and the fishman had only a moment before he clutched her and Luffy to his chest, and Akainu's fist pushed past his shoulder. Pain, mind-numbing pain, shrouded Sage's being as the fist of lava scorched her right shoulder, and planted an enormous burn on Luffy's chest. She cried out wordlessly when Jinbei collapsed, tumbling to the ground with her and Luffy in his arms, but then an explosion behind them launched them into the air. She shut her eyes to prepare for collision with the ground again, but they were stopped and held in midair by Buggy, who yelled in confusion.

"Bring Mugiwara-ya to my ship!" Sage's mouth dropped in surprise at the familiar voice, although she couldn't see past Jinbei's body in Buggy's arms.

"Who are you, kid?"

"I'm a doctor! Give them to me, hurry!"

"Buggy!" Sage called weakly. "Do it, I trust him! Please!"

"Okay, fine! Here, catch!" The fishman, she, and her brother were thrown into the air, towards the yellow submarine, their descent stopped abruptly in Jean Bart's arms. She tumbled clumsily from Jinbei's unconscious grasp, lying on the deck for a moment to get her wits about her.

"Sage!" Brandy's voice echoed from just beyond the door of the submarine, and as Bepo and Jean Bart went inside to start treating them, the redhead pulled her up from the deck and led her inside. Sage caught Law's eye for a split second before her vision blanked and she slumped against Brandy's shoulder.


	28. Chapter 28

~~~28~~~

She was lying on her stomach in the infirmary when she woke up, her shoulder sending throbbing waves of pain. She forced herself up, ignoring the pain from her burn, and looked around. The room was filled with people, some simply treating small injuries, but others had more serious wounds, and were laid on beds by their crewmates. Sage saw that Judah was the only medic in the room, and seemed overwhelmed by the amount of people. He was frantically trying to clear the less-injured men out, but was having difficulty. The sub began rocking, and the whole ship dove forward and down, tipping people off their feet and adding to the chaos.

She knew that the wounds that absolutely need care could not be attended to without a calm environment, and raised her voice above the din. "Hey! Everyone!" A lull washed over the room quickly, and the crew turned to look at her. "Whoever's not seriously injured or can treat themselves, grab what you need and clear out! Go!" When the majority of the men left, she saw that only a small few men were really wounded.

Penguin and Jaxon had carried Shachi in between their shoulders, and they set him on a bed near her. His left leg was bleeding profusely, and he grimaced as they laid him down on the bed. Judah rushed over and, taking stock of the situation, paled. "I don't know how to treat gunshot wounds…" He said shamefully.

"I've got him. Go get anaesthetic and a blood bag."

Judah's eyes brightened, and he rushed to get them. She shook her head to focus, examining the wound in Shachi's leg. It had hit him at an angle, only piercing muscle and avoiding his artery and bone, to her relief.

"You two, I'm gonna need your help. Stay here, and get ready to get your hands dirty. Penguin, take these," Snapping into focus, she shoved squares of gauze into his hands. "And apply pressure directly on the wound. Jaxon, keep tabs on his breathing and pulse, just make sure he stays alive. I need to grab some stuff." She left them to do what she said and fetched cloth cutters, tweezers, a plunger syringe, a scalpel, a bag of saline, some hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls, gauze, blood clotting powder, and gloves. These she dumped on the bed between Shachi's legs.

The gauze Penguin had applied was soaked in blood now, and she instructed him to remove it as she put on the gloves. He did, throwing away the soaked square, and watched intently as she cut away the cloth of his boiler suit, revealing the still-bleeding hole in his leg. She filled the syringe with saline and said, "Shachi, relax as much as you can. It's gonna hurt." He grimaced, but allowed his head to fall back onto the pillow of the bed, sighing when Judah brought the anaesthetic. "Jaxon, hold his head still. If he starts bleeding out of his nose or ears, that's fine. Let it bleed." She wiped away excess blood around the wound, then gently pressed down the plunger of the syringe, injecting the saline into the hole to clear out grime and gunpowder. Shachi gave a weak groan before he went under, and she shushed him as he fell unconscious. She picked up the tweezers, which Penguin had cleaned with the peroxide at her instruction, and probed into the wound. It only took her a few seconds to locate the bullet, and she quickly and carefully removed it and whatever shards she saw. Penguin dumped peroxide in it, she rinsed it out once more with saline, poured the clotting powder in, and told him to hold pressure on it again.

Sighing quickly, she fetched stitching equipment, but paused as she noticed that her hands were trembling. Forcing herself to overcome her exhaustion, she grabbed the needles and thread and returned to Shachi, but Judah came over and took the things from her hands gently.

"Sage, you've done a great job. Let me stitch him up; you're shaking. Stitching the muscle back together will take longer, so let me do it. Everyone else is fine. Go rest, and I'll come for your shoulder soon."

She snapped out of her focused stupor, accepting that she could do no more, and slowly walked to the operating room. She peered into the brightly-lit room with two tables, each holding her brother and the fishman. Seeing her reflection in the glass between them and her, she saw that her arms, face, neck, chest, and lap were spattered in gore, her hair was falling out of its tight braid, and her limbs trembled with exhaustion.

The four other medics and Law moved quickly around the two tables, Law alternating between the two and issuing orders for tools. Josh looked up to see her there and nodded to her instead of smiling, as his face was covered in a mask, then resumed his work on Jinbei's gaping wound. She looked over at her brother, but could discern no information about his health, and settled for sitting on the floor of the observation room beside the sinks, watching and occasionally dozing, despite her efforts to keep from sleeping.

After a few hours, Law exited the operating room, peeled off his gloves, and unhooked his mask from his ears. "How are they?" She asked anxiously. Blood that had caked on her limbs cracked as she stood up.

"Only Luffy can decide whether he wants to keep living or not. Jinbei will be fine. I've done all I can."

"Okay." She bit her lip ruminatively. Law leaned against the wall, sending her an intrigued look.

"'Okay'? That's it?" She only nodded and left, returning to the infirmary after sending a quick glance over her shoulder at Luffy, who still lay on the table. "Where are you going?"

"Come on, I want you to check on Shachi. He got shot in the leg."

He immediately frowned. "When?" He demanded.

"A few hours ago. I got the bullet out and Judah stitched him up. I just want you to look at it. I think he's fine."

As they left, Law said, "You said you got the shell out? How did you learn that?"

"Books." He only hummed in reply as they entered the infirmary.

"Captain!" Judah exclaimed as they entered. "How went the surgeries?"

"Fine. Where's Shachi-ya? Sage tended to a gunshot wound?" He questioned the young medic. She noted, surprised, that he did not add the usual suffix after her name.

"Yes, Captain, she was amazing! I don't know how to treat those, but she knew and did it amazingly! I only did the stitches." Sage shook her head humbly, brushing off the praise. Judah led Law to Shachi, who lay in the corner with his leg resting on a pillow. Sage leaned tiredly on the wall as Law inspected her handiwork and Shachi rambled on and on about how cool that was, where did she learn that, blah blah. She wasn't listening, she was too tired.

When Law deemed him clear, he turned to her, pointing at another bed. "Sit." She didn't have the energy to reply and obeyed. He pulled up his rolling office chair and sat backwards on it.

"Can I just lie down? You have to fix my shoulder, right?" He nodded and wheeled his chair around the room, collecting the things he needed, and she fell on the bed face-first and almost immediately fell asleep.


	29. Chapter 29

~~~29~~~

A few hours later, she woke up with her shoulder bound, grabbed some food in the galley, and went up to the deck, where Law was talking with Boa Hancock, Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo standing beside. A huge Marine ship was sailing calmly beside them, but Law showed no worry, so she didn't either.

"He suffered an enormous amount of damage. I can't guarantee he'll survive. If his wounds reopen, he'll die."

"Who are they?" Shachi asked the Pirate Empress, indicating the people on the Marine ship.

"Prisoners from Impel Down. It seems they are Luffy's allies." As Sage stepped out into the light, standing beside Law, Ivankov jumped down with a twirl and flourish onto the deck.

"Vi'm impressed by how hard he fought. And all to save your brother!" He directed his last sentence towards Sage, who glanced sadly at the ground. "Although I can't think of any reason why you would want to help him," Ivankov continued.

"I wasn't obligated to help him, but if you want a reason, I could name one." Law shared a glance with Sage for a split second before cries came from in the ship.

"Jinbei! You can't be up yet; you just got out of surgery!"

The blue fishman appeared in the doorway, swathed entirely in white bandages and panting. "You're Trafalgar Law, right? From the North Blue. Thank you for saving my life."

Law's eyes narrowed but his face showed no care or emotion. "Sleep. Or you'll die."

Jinbei shook his large head, his gills rustling. "My heart won't calm down. It's hopeless. The amount of suffering I have endured is too much this time. But my suffering can't possibly be compared to what Luffy-kun is going through… Passing out must have been some sort of defensive instinct! Although his life has been spared, I'm more concerned about what will happen when he wakes up!" Sage stepped towards the fishman. "You're...Sage-san, correct? Ace spoke often of you. You must be suffering so much as well; I'm so sorry for the loss of your brother at my failure to save him." She lifted a hand, stopping his words.

"Jinbei-san. Luffy's life is my responsibility now. Please go and recover. No matter how hard his struggles are, they do _not _discredit your own, so please go back to sleep. I've already allowed Ace to die; I won't let his good friend die too, or Luffy. Do not worry, and go rest." She could see in his eyes that he didn't want to obey, but when he opened his mouth to reply, she silenced him with a pleading look, and he slowly turned and limped back into the sub.

~~~X~~~

Four days later, on the Isle of Women, Sage's bleak dreams vanished at her little brother's screaming "AAAACE!" at the top of his lungs. She jumped out of bed and followed Luffy's yelling to the operating room, and found him being unsuccessfully held down by a handful of her crew mates. He writhed and bucked, throwing punches and kicks, screaming all the while. Escaping, he ran right past her, and she grabbed his vest tight, but he got away. He found his way out of the sub, and jumped to shore, Sage on his heels. She pumped her legs as hard as she could, and dove at him, tackling him to the ground. Wincing as his elbows rammed into her sides, she yelled his name. Only when he turned for a split second to look at her did she realize his eyes were glazed over and cloudy, and they passed over her as if she didn't exist.

"Luffy! Listen to me!" No response, only another wave of struggling on the grass. "Luffy! It's Sage! It's your sister! Listen!" His body slackened in her grip, and he looked at her confusedly, his eyes searching, wandering. "Luffy! I need you to come back to me," she begged him, pleading desperately with him to return from madness, despite the fact that she was on the verge of insanity also. "Hey! It's Sage! Please stop this!" Slowly, his eyes focused again, and he looked up at her blankly.

"Sis?" She nodded, smiling without joy, but his face took on a look of rage again as he yelled, "I have to find Ace!"

Her jaw trembling, she looked him in the eye, uttered the words she never thought she would, and gripped her little brother even tighter, but he wriggled away and banged his head on trees, yelling to himself, screaming "NO! No, that didn't happen! No way!" She scrambled after him, her muscles tearing as she pulled him away from the tree. Jinbei appeared, and as Luffy tried running past him into the forest, the fishman punched him straight into a tree, pinning him.

"Luffy-kun! Come back to reality! The war is over!"

"NO NO NO!" He struggled and beat at Jinbei's large, webbed hands around his torso.

Sage grabbed his head in both hands and yelled to him, "LUFFY! ACE IS DEAD! And I know that if you don't stop this, you will be too! And I can't lose you too… So please stop…" He stared into her eyes, tears streaming down his scrunched face.

"Don't say any more," He blubbered. Jinbei let him down, and he clung to his sister tightly as they both mourned their big brother.

"You still have your crew, Luf. You have Zoro, and Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, everyone else I haven't met yet. You still have them."


	30. Chapter 30

_**Warning: The first section is mainly a stream of ruminative thoughts and a contains a mention of suicide. If need be, please skip to the next section denoted by (**__**~~~X~~~**__**). Keep yourself safe.**_

~~~30~~~

_If he dies because of who we are, so will I._ Constantly Sage remembered her own decisive thought, trying to shake it off but unable to. _I said I would die protecting him._

_But I didn't die._ _And I failed him._ She stared wide-eyed into the blackness of her room, Brandy's soft, steady breathing the only sound she heard. _I failed Ace._ She felt so empty, like a barely-alive shell of a human being. So she cried silently. She mourned for her brother, knowing he had smiled and laughed for the last time at just twenty. She cried for Luffy, who she knew shared as strong a bond with him as she did with her twin, who had put his body on the line to save him. She cried for the many lives lost in the war, entire battlefields worth of people who had fought in vain for both sides to lose.

Finally she cried for herself, losing her sanity as she wept for all she had endured; she had lost sixteen of her best friends, and it was her fault. She lost her brother, her twin and other half, and it was her fault. Yet as she sat curled on her cot in the dark hugging her knees with tears streaming down her face, she felt like she had no right to cry for herself. She knew she deserved all the pain she got in life because it was her fault; she had allowed her crew to die because of her stupidity and rashness, and she had allowed her brother to die because she failed to keep him safe.

Hopelessness. She couldn't be forgiven; she had fucked up too badly, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do to reverse it.

_Why don't you just die? _So much more pain could be avoided from simply going to sleep and never waking up again. All the agony she felt in that moment could be erased, and she yearned for it to simply be over. Done.

_I can't die…_ Luffy would be so alone, even more desolate than he was without Ace, the last of four siblings alive. She couldn't do that to him; she had experienced that loneliness. Brandy would be alone too, on a new ship with a captain who didn't even want her, the last of a dead crew, wondering what she had done wrong to let Sage kill herself. She couldn't do that to her; she had experienced that guilt.

And so she kept living, because what else could she do but drag herself through the nightmares of reality if only to protect those she loved from the same pain?

**~~~X~~~**

The following week on the Island of Women passed with agonizing slowness and alarming speed. Sage resolved to forgive herself, if only to preserve her sanity, and disciplined herself to replace every negative, remorseful thought with a positive one, or think nothing at all. Of course, Luffy was back to his normal self in good time, and Boa Hancock doted over him as much as she could. Daily Sage was harassed about going into the city, and twice she gave in, reluctantly accepting gifts of clothing, jewelry, weapons, and food from the Snake Princess, who zealously insisted that they shower her with gifts. The men on board always asked her many questions when she returned from the city, since they weren't allowed in, and tried to ask the women serving them food about their lives, although they almost always were ignored.

As soon as he was healthy enough, Luffy went with Jimbei and Rayleigh, who had swum to visit them, to return to the Marine Headquarters to send a message to the other Straw Hats to meet up in two years instead of three days.

After lying awake pondering the decision she was about to make, Sage went to Law's room late the night before Luffy would go with Rayleigh to train for the next two years.

"Law," She called softly outside the door. She heard a hum in response, and entered.

"What might you need this late?" He sat at his desk working, like always, and looked up to see her as she walked in and remained standing, ignoring the extra chair in front of his desk.

She paused before she said, "I need to go with Luffy to train with Rayleigh."

His face darkened, and he said nothing for a minute. She felt the air thicken, and she knew he was angry but she didn't know why. Then: "This is my thanks?" She blinked, shocked at his response.

"What?"

He stared at her, making her spine chill and she suppressed the urge to shudder under his gaze. "I saved your brother and took in your crewmate, and you're just going to leave for two years?"

_Does he not want me to leave?_ The thought surprised her. She was expecting him to not care and wave her off, maybe even be happy she was out of his hair. She had no idea what to say, and blankly looked at him. With her lack of response, he sat back in his chair, removing his hat and running his hands through his hair.

"I mean, I'm thankful for what you've done," she stuttered out, at a loss for other words.

"Are you leaving Brandy here, then?" He looked away from her finally and let his eyes lower to the floor, but let his arms drop and stood up.

"Um… I think so," She said softly, unsure in the situation.

"No you're not." He stepped towards her, moving around the desk to lean on it in front of her.

"I can't take her; she's not healthy enough to train and it'll be dangerous, and I trust you."

He crossed his arms. "You're not taking her because you're not leaving."

Her mouth fell open slightly in surprise, then closed again as she set her jaw determinedly. "I have to, Law. I'm too weak for the New World as I am now."

"Well so am I, but it doesn't mean I up and leave," he argued.

"You make it sound like I _want _to go. I don't, but I-" Law raised a hand to stop her, and she paused with her mouth still open. In a moment he had closed the space between them and stood close, resting his head on the top of hers with slumped shoulders.

"You're not going," he said, almost pleadingly.

Surprised, she took a moment before saying again: "Can't do that, Law," His body stiffened, and he stepped back, but she grabbed his hoodie and pulled him into a warm hug. "Come get me in a year or so, okay? I won't be gone the whole two years; I don't think I could handle that. I just need to get much, much stronger; Deal?"

He backed away from her, leaning on the desk again. "We have a deal, Miss Sage."


	31. Major update: August 15 2016

Hi everyone, Sam here. I'm really sorry I've been on hiatus for new chapters for so long; I've been having some issues with my health and haven't had much energy or time. What I HAVE been doing is editing the entire story; yes, all forty-something chapters, shortened, rewritten, and reposted up to the new chapter 31.

If you have been reading up-to-date chapters and are following the story, it will be very confusing to continue reading without knowing the updates. I highly suggest rereading the story, although I'm sorry to ask you for such a chore, but I hope it's very much improved compared to the last version. I'd like to thank whoever has read up to this far for staying with this story for so long, and I hope to continue writing for a while longer, although I won't have a schedule or anything, I'm sorry.

There is better character development with Sage herself and better development between her and Law, and I think you'd especially like the newest chapter 31, so enjoy that!

Again, thank you all so much for reading and enjoying/hating the story, please remember to leave reviews if you liked a chapter or hated it. I openly welcome any feedback and an email for a review just makes my day. =)

Thank you very much,

Sam


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